


Close to the Edge

by begitalarcos



Series: Reaper Love [3]
Category: Criminal Minds
Genre: Angst, M/M, Mental Institutions, Psychological Drama, Rape, Sexual Abuse, Sexual Content
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-05-31
Updated: 2013-05-31
Packaged: 2017-12-13 13:08:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 9
Words: 29,448
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/824648
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/begitalarcos/pseuds/begitalarcos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Reid had been commited to the mental Institution after Foyet is shot and arrested, but Foyet doesn't plan on staying in jail if he can help it. When and if he escapes will he help Spencer? or go into hiding once more</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Somehow, Someway

"Dr. Reid… Spencer can you hear me?" Reid didn't react to the light the doctor was flashing in front of his eyes; he continued to stare at the floor as he sat huddled in the corner tied tightly in a strait jacket to prevent him from scratching himself. Only a week before he had been let out of his restraints and had an episode where he'd scratched his arms until they bled. Right now Morgan was sitting on the bed with Garcia, they had come to see Reid after hours so he wouldn't be upset by other patients who were walking through the halls, he seemed to become agitated by large groups of people.

"I'm sorry I don't think we'll be able to visit today." The doctor said standing and placing the light in his breast pocket, Garcia had been wiping her eyes with a handkerchief the entire time while Derek just stared at Reid trying to comprehend how a nervous breakdown could completely change his young friend's behavior.

"I did mention that this behavior was recurring agent Morgan." Derek ignored the remark and watched the way Reid reacted to it, shifting his eyes from the floor to the doctors back then down again, as if he understood completely the words but chose to manifest this behaviour regardless.

"Could we speak with him alone?" Morgan asked, the doctor pursed his lips quite unsure of the request

"Well… only for a few minutes but I will be right outside." Derek nodded as did Penelope while the doctor passed them both and slid the door closed. Morgan knelt down next to Reid whose knee was shaking as he rocked against the wall, eyes still fixated on the floor.

"Reid?" Morgan said gently, Spencer didn't react.

"Reid I know things have been hard… and I know losing Foyet hurt you." Reid's eyes rose to meet Derek's upon mentioning the name. Hotch had discovered something in the Reaper files and knew somehow that George was the Reaper, he eventually pieced together where Foyet would be and was forced to shoot him in front of Reid in his apartment, though Foyet was alive and arrested in Virginia and Hotch had is kept that way since Reid had gone off the deep end. They needed information from Spencer now too since he was an accessory to all of Foyet's crimes having known about his lovers secret life. George continuously denied involving Spencer in any way but it didn't help, Reid had been ridiculed and ousted by a reporter who had paid off a security guard to get the story behind the Reaper and eventually Spencer couldn't handle the stress and snapped… now here he was in an institution wrapped up for his own safety, he had panic attacks and was intensely paranoid and obsessive, his ability to cope with anything normal was gone and he reacted quite violently to people who invaded his personal space.

Derek looked at Reid who continued to stare at him with hollow eyes.

"Reid…" he said softly, "Please… let us help you." Spencer exhaled sharply and looked back at the floor, Morgan put his hand out and touched Spencer's shoulder which caused a violent reaction, Reid flipped onto his back and kicked at Derek craning his neck to the side with wild eyes.

"Don't touch me! Don't touch me!" he yelled, the doctor came back into the room in a heartbeat with two orderly's, upon seeing this. Reid pushed himself up to his feet against the wall and shook back and forth to try and get away from the two men, as the doctor held a needle in his hands. Garcia couldn't help but rush out of the room as the orderly's held Reid who struggled to get away from the sharp point of the needle that was stuck into his shoulder, he cried out and then began sobbing as the orderly's let him go and he fell to his side on the padded floor. Derek looked down at his friend in sheer horror at what he had become; Reid's own mother wasn't as bad as this. The doctor had explained to Hotch earlier that he believed Reid was experiencing a severe form of psychosis, but couldn't be completely sure if he was schizophrenic.

"Please…." Reid cried, "Please give him back." Derek stood rubbing his forehead, he had no idea how they ever could reach Reid.

-CM-

"What can I do for thee agent Hotchner." Foyet said from across the table, his feet and hands were cuffed and chained to a spot on the floor. He shifted in his seat pulling at the collar of his orange jump suit with his teeth. Hotch took a deep breath as he opened a file in front of Foyet

"Let's talk about Nina Hale." Foyet shifted his foot which made the chains clank

"Let's not and say we did." He said clearly uninterested

"You stabbed her over forty times." Hotch said still looking at the file

"Forty six." Foyet stated, Hotch looked up

"But who's counting really." He said with a sarcastic grin. Hotch closed the file and stood up to leave

"What? Don't tell me you have no sense of humor?" George called out to him, Aaron turned and gave Foyet a hard look but the Reaper was un-phased.

"As much as I hate to admit that I need your help Foyet I do." George sat straight in the chair and stared at Aaron

"Well conjugal visits aren't allowed Aaron, and no offense but… you're not really my type."

"Was Spencer?" Foyet's expression hardened and his jaw clamped shut, Hotch slowly made his way back to the table and sat down, he reopened the file and pointed at the photo of Nina Hale. George rolled his eyes and sighed

"What about her?" he asked looking around the room, there wasn't anything in particular to look at though.

"You stabbed her forty six times… why?" Foyet looked at Hotch

"Because she was there… I don't know." Aaron flipped to a photo of Nina when she was alive, it was a graduation shot.

"Is that what I tell the victims families Foyet? That you killed their loved ones because they were in your way?" George didn't look at Hotch as his eyes continued to wander around the room

"Or you could tell them you said you'd rather try to catch me then have me not kill them." He said looking up at the ceiling fan, his eyes following the blades as they slowly spun. Hotch was getting annoyed very quickly.

"Don't you realise you've won?" Foyet looked at Aaron finally

"Your methods are going to be studied for years, you're the Reaper as prolific as Dahmer or Manson isn't that what you wanted." George moved his jaw from side to side.

"No." he said plainly looking back up at the ceiling

"Then what do you want?" Foyet looked Hotch in the eyes and leaned forward

"It doesn't matter agent Hotchner, what I want I can't have." He said plainly staring Aaron down; their eyes scanned each other for what seemed a long time before Foyet spoke again

"How's Haley by the way? You two still getting divorced? How's Jack taking that?" Aaron stood up and walked out of the room leaving Foyet grinning and laughing to himself. George didn't really care about Hotch he just wanted to strike a nerve so he wouldn't have to talk to him anymore, which worked for the moment but he knew Aaron would be back… he always was.

-CM-

"Spencer you need to get up and eat something." Reid exhaled deeply as he lay on the bed rigidly

"I'd much rather lie here in misery thank you." He said, the nurse was at a loss as she held a tray of reheated food in her hands.

"It's important you eat so you can get well." She said in a forced encouraging voice, Reid rolled his eyes but didn't get up; he was still tied in the strait jacket lying on his side on the white steel bed.

"Don't make me feed you now Spencer." She said mockingly, Reid groaned and kicked out his leg knocking the tray from her hands and onto the floor

"Now nobody eats." He said flatly pulling his legs up close to his arms that were crossed over his chest. The nurse snorted in a huff and walked out of the room leaving the tray on the floor. Reid sighed deeply knowing his actions would force that blasted doctor back into the room, and get him sedated no doubt. He didn't really care right now; he wasn't going anywhere whether he was well or not, he felt overwhelmed and angry at his situation. One freak out after another was putting nail after nail in the coffin that was going to be his hole in the ground of a life from now on if he couldn't start coping with his issues sooner versus later.

Within a few minutes the doctor was back, Doctor Marshall Winters. He seemed delighted to have Reid in his care; he was a royal prick when the members of Reid's team weren't around.

"My my my." Winters said looking at the mess on the floor, Reid barely glanced at him

"What are we going to do with you Dr. Reid?" he asked, Reid groaned as Winters came around to the other side of the bed and grabbed him by the hair forcing him to sit. Reid groaned as the doctor twisted his fingers in his hair

"You can rot in here for all I care Reid." he said his foul breath stinking at the side of Spencer's face

"But you will show me respect or believe me you will regret it." He released Reid pushing him forward onto the floor and into the overturned food.

"Eat off the floor if that's how you want it." He said vindictively, Reid groaned pushing back on his knees to turn and look at Winters, the doctor gave a snide grin and exited the room. Spencer cursed under his breath shaking his head to remove some of the food that had clung to his hair and face. He had to find a way out of here.

-CM-

George sat in his single cell with his head against the wall, he hadn't counted on being caught in Virginia and he sighed inwardly as he sat rigidly on the pull down seat in his cell, the same seat was his bed and it was nothing more than a stiff metal plank with a thin layer of padding fixed to it. George tapped his foot as he thought back to his last night with Spencer before his capture.

Spencer sat next to him on the bed wearing nothing but mismatched socks, George rubbed his back as Reid had begun to cry, Foyet felt bad about everything Reid was going through now, having to register in his head that his lover was in fact the Boston Reaper and also deal with the fact that George was alive was harder than Reid had expected it to be.

Reid leaned against George's shoulder sniffling and wiping his eyes, trying fruitlessly to compose himself.

"I'm sorry Spencer." Foyet said genuinely, Reid continued to wipe his eyes which didn't stop his tears from falling, Foyet turned and knelt on the floor in front of him wincing as he descended to his knees, he could feel warm blood trickling out of his wounds, he put a hand on either of Reid's knee's and looked into the young man's face.

"It's ok." He said softly, trying to hush away the fear and sadness that had enveloped Reid. Spencer shook his head

"But it's not…" he cried looking at Foyet under the white light of the moon that shone through the window, snow spiraling in the wind outside.

"I'm an accessory to this now." The words rasped from his throat as they echoed in George's ears, this was never what he wanted.

"No you're not." Foyet assured, "I will never let anything happen to you, whatever happens to me you were never involved." Reid shook his head but George took hold of his hands and shook them firmly

"Do you hear me?" he said "I will never let anyone blame you for my actions." Reid's lips quivered as tears dripped off his chin and into his lap, Foyet brushed them away staring into fawn colored pools of emotion.

"I love you, that is never… never going to change." Reid sniffled as Foyet held his face in his hands. He leaned in and kissed Reid's tired eyes.

"I promise." He said with vindication in his words. Reid breathed heavily as he nodded then hugged close to Foyet who with pain welcomed the embrace.

"Come on." Foyet said pulling away from Reid, "Let's get you cleaned up."

George sighed twiddling his thumbs as he shifted his weight from side to side on the cell bench. Somehow… he had to get out of here.

-CM-

Hotch was sitting in a his car outside the prison, he had been working the case in Indiana when he had figured some things out about the Reaper case, somehow he had just made a connection between George and the Reaper and he knew… that indeed it had always been George. He couldn't explain it to anyone or hope to understand it himself, all but a few images had flashed through his head and he just knew it to be true.

The addresses scribbled in blood, Reid's GPS signal, the note to the Michigan Post… somehow it all made sense to him. He buried the thoughts as best he could until the case in Indiana had been solved and then was quick to return to Virginia, knowing what he assumed to be true he decided to show up at Reid's unexpectedly what he hadn't really counted on was finding Foyet there.

"Reid get out of the way." Hotch said pointing his gun Foyet was standing in the dining room behind Reid who was in the living room where he had been reading a book.

"Hotch wait." Spencer protested but Aaron wouldn't hear of it

"Get out of the way now Spencer!" he demanded but Reid didn't move

"Spencer…" Foyet said, Reid turned he looked to George then the dining room table where he had set his gun two night before.

"No." Reid breathed in a matter of moments Foyet had grabbed the gun and Hotch had fired, he had intentionally aimed to injure George who hit the wall hard as the bullet slammed in and through his shoulder. Reid was looking from George to Aaron completely taken aback.

"Hotch…." He barely managed as Aaron brushed by him kicking the gun away from Foyet and pulling him to his feet

"I don't think we've been formally introduced have we..?" Foyet said grinning with bloody teeth, Hotch shook him hard and slammed him against the wall and turned him, Foyet groaned as Aaron wretched his arms back and cuffed him. Spencer just stood stark still completely unsure of what to do, he couldn't help George and what would he say to Hotch? Anything he did could be twisted into something to be held against him.

Aaron turned to Spencer and gave him a look of dissatisfaction, he shook his head and he grabbed the back of George's collar and pulled him towards the front door and out. Reid barely exchanged a glance with Foyet as he was taken out of the apartment. Reid could hear police sirens and he stood with shaking hands as his neighbors exited their apartments and peered inside Spencer's door.

Foyet stumbled on the steps as Hotch pushed him forward and towards his car, he looked up at Reid's window and saw Spencer staring down at him, an incredible sadness in his face. Hotch watched as police cruisers pulled up, he had called them moments before entering the residence… giving himself the chance to do what had to be done… and to keep Spencer away from things. Foyet groaned again blood dripping down his elbow into the snow below.

"He needs medical attention." Hotch said to an officer who called it in, Hotch pushed Foyet away from him into the arms of two officers who set George in the back of a squad car, it was then that Hotch looked up into Reid's window and saw that no one was there. He watched the lights extinguish in the apartment and sighed climbing into his car… things were never going to be the same.


	2. Free your Sick Amusment

Foyet shifted in his seat as the suit next to him spoke, though he wasn't really paying attention. He had been appointed a lawyer, Boston P.D. was denying Foyet was the Boston Reaper. The detective who had decided Wagner was the killer was not ready to take another fall and with the evidence he was sure pointed to the dead man they had found in the burning car he wasn't exactly open to the thought that his department had made a mistake.

"Mr. Foyet will you please listen to what I'm saying?" George glanced over at the lawyer, they were sitting in a type of interrogation room, Foyet was once again cuffed and chained to an area on the floor, he was getting used to the treatment although scratching an itch could get troublesome.

"So shoot suit." He said to the lawyer who sighed flipping through papers, before he could start speaking Agent Morgan and Prentiss walked into the room. George didn't look up from his hands at them as Emily walked behind his chair and sat in front of him, Morgan continued to stand.

"Agents." The lawyer said, Emily nodded in his direction

"Mr. Fletcher." Derek said crossing his arms

"My client maintains his innocence in this case." Fletcher started, Morgan paced behind Emily's chair as she opened a file folder.

"That's not how he made it sound when he spoke to agent Hotchner a few days ago." George shifted his foot making the chains clank; he continued to stare at his hands. Emily studied his face as Fletcher started in

"Mr. Foyet learned the details of the Reaper case from Agent Reid, anything he shared was on file that doesn't prove he committed the crimes." Derek exhaled sharply but said nothing

"Your agent broke into Spencer Reid's apartment and shot my client who was only trying to defend himself."

"Now that's bullshit!" Derek yelled slamming his hands on the table, Foyet's eyes locked with Derek's for a fraction of a second before he looked back at his hands, the ghost of a smile on his lips. Emily pulled out photos from the scene where Wagner was discovered.

"Can you explain how your blood got in the back of this car?" she asked George, he didn't look at the photos. Fletcher opened his own folder and threw pictures in front of Prentiss. They were images of George's cauterized stab wounds and the gunshot wound in his shoulder. Emily slowly pushed the photos back towards Fletcher's side of the table.

"My client barely escaped the Boston Reaper with his life agent Prentiss; he went to the only place he thought was safe." Derek growled as he pushed off the table

"I can't believe this." he said walking over to the door with his hands on his hips.

"Morgan." Emily said shooting a look in his direction before turning back to Fletcher. Derek swallowed and clamped his jaw shut leaning against the door with his arms crossed.

"Mr. Fletcher I am very aware you're doing your job but I asked Foyet a question not you." Fletcher collected the photos in his hands and tapped them on the table placing them back in his folder; he turned to George who was rubbing his thumb along the back of the cuffs.

"How did your blood get in the back of that car?" she repeated again, George could see the warped image of his reflection in the silver cuffs, the dim light that was hanging over the table gave them a golden shine.

"You don't have to answer that." Fletcher said, George sighed inwardly closing his eyes and leaning his head back in the chair.

"What do you want me to say?" he said faintly, Emily was unsure who he was addressing.

"You've already made your judgement of me very clear." Foyet said opening his eyes and looking up at the ceiling

"What do the details matter?" Derek shook his head shifting his weight from foot to foot. He and Prentiss were the only ones backing Hotch up with a case against Foyet, Rossi and JJ had agreed there were some strange details that linked Foyet but they had key evidence they were missing. Foyet's car, his computer among other things. They had a limited time to hold George now with pressure from Boston P.D. and a judge who urged them to either get a full confession or find the missing evidence. Derek was seething inside from what he had witnessed days ago in the hospital, Reid was falling apart. Their last option was soon going to be the one he refused to take, they would have to use Reid to get to Foyet and the feeling alone made Morgan sick to his stomach.

"Were you in Charles Wagner's car or not?" Emily prodded again

"I – DON'T – REMEMBER…!" Foyet said very clearly as he stared at the ceiling.

"I wasn't taking in the scenery while I was bleeding to death!" he said louder than needed, Emily cleared her throat and sat back in her chair. Fletcher stood up

"Are we done here?" he asked "As I said before my client is the victim in this matter, the evidence you have is circumstantial."

Emily sighed exchanging a look with Morgan who seemed to cross his arms tighter around his chest. Fletcher motioned for the guard outside the door to come in, George had looked back into his hands as the officer came in and undid the shackles from the floor and pulled Foyet to a standing position.

"I'll see you soon." Fletcher said to him, George barely nodded as the officer led him out of the room.

Emily stood as Fletcher collected his files

"Mr. Fletcher," she started the lawyer looked up at her "You have to realise your defending a murderer." Fletcher gave her a snide look

"That's for the courts to decide Agent Prentiss; I'm just here to get paid." Derek gave a disgusted snort as Fletcher walked by him and out the door. Emily looked back at the two way glass and shrugged her shoulders, Hotch stood behind the glass in the dark room with his arms crossed, they were running out of time now… and he had no idea what their next move should be.

-CM-

Reid sat in the common room staring out the window; other patients of the facility were shuffling about, watching TV, playing cards and the like. There was wire mesh over the windows and he peered through the lines between to watch the snow spiraling outside.

"Hello Spencer." Reid turned at the small voice, it was a young girl with red hair her wrists were bandaged tightly as she kneeled next him, her name was Victoria and she continuously vied for Reid's attention when he wasn't locked in his room, she would be escorted away from his door where she would sit and talk underneath it when he locked inside. Reid gave her a tight lipped smile and looked back out the window. She rested her head on his lap making strange cooing noises at him, Reid shifted uncomfortably in the chair as she lay her hand on his knee.

"Spencer did you hear that Santa Claus is coming soon?" his eyelids felt heavy as he looked up at the grey clouds overhead, he didn't answer her.

"My momma came to visit and said maybe I can see Santa if the voices in my head go away." She moved her head further up his lap and Reid stiffened in his chair looking down at her, he moved his arms back in the chair and away from her; clearly she wanted him to embrace her.

"I don't think they'll stop though, do you think Santa will come see us Spencer?" Reid exhaled sharply exchanging a look with one of the nurses who started towards him.

"Victoria, now we talked about this." the nurse said taking the younger girl by the arm and slowly trying to extract her grip from around Reid's leg. Spencer didn't dare to touch her, the one time he had pushed her off of him he was sedated and sent to his room, only because Victoria had reacted so violently to the rejection. She wasn't taking it very well now either as she wrapped her arm around Reid's leg with a vice like grip and glared up at the nurse with wild eyes.

"Victoria." The nurse said in a stern voice as she stood up, "Do you need time in the quiet room?" the redhead's eyes widened and she shook her head no.

"Then let go please." She said extending her hand to the damaged girl. Reid sighed relieved as Victoria let go of him and walked towards her room, holding herself as she scurried away. The nurse smiled down at Reid who feigned one back at her before looking out the window again.

"Your appointment is in a half hour Spencer." She said cheerily, Reid didn't respond to her as she walked away.

His appointment was with Winters, the bastard no doubt would find some way to abuse him again, every time they were alone in his office things got worse than better. Reid didn't know how he was going to get discharged from this place as long as Winters was in charge. He'd currently stopped talking all together and it had kept him out of trouble for the most part, at least they'd taken off the straight jacket. The wind whistled outside as the snow played freely in the air, and Reid could only hope he too would be free soon.

-CM-

Reid sat rigidly in the chair across from Winter's desk, the sound of pages turning filled his ears and the scent of leather and cigar smoke wafted in the air. Winter's continued to flip over Reid's file acting as if Spencer wasn't in the room at all. Reid's eyes wandered around the room, the desk was large and stained a dark cherry color, the windows were tall and had heavy curtains pulled in front of them, the door to the room was also large and it made an interesting noise when it shut. He supposed it was a seal that sound proofed the room. One thing Winter's used to his advantage. Reid rolled his thumb over one of his finger nails anxiously as he waited for Winter's to address him.

"So.." the words came that finally broke the silence, Winter's was still looking at his files, his white hair combed in a way that tried to hide the balding spot on the back of his head, his face was clean shaven and wrinkled. He couldn't be more than fifty five; he was a heavier set man but certainly didn't let that keep him from intimidating his patients.

"Tell me Spencer…" Reid shifted his feet on the floor, the pale white sneakers he was given looked odd against the red carpet.

"What are we going to do with you?" Winter's looked up finally, beady dark eyes staring at him from behind glasses perched on a crooked nose. Reid looked absent mindedly around the room again, he had no idea what he was supposed to be saying, and what it was the strange doctor wanted from him. With his lack of response the older man stood and circled around the desk to stand behind Reid's chair, he put a heavy hand on Reid and moved his thumb along the younger man's shoulder, the feeling sickened Reid.

"I understand your having a hard time adjusting to things here Spencer." Reid felt his breathing flutter through him silently as he watched the old man's hand from the corner of his eye.

"And I know that you want to be well, and to get back out there in the real world." Reid knit his brow as the doctor pressed his fingers into his shoulder tightly.

"So let's play nice shall we?" Reid felt a lump in his throat as Winter's let go of his shoulder and walked towards the window and peered through the curtains. Reid watched him put his hands behind his back as he stared outside. He wasn't keen on knowing what Winter's meant by playing nice and it wasn't something he wanted to experience. The difference today was he wasn't in the strait jacket, so if he had to defend himself from Winter's he very well could.

"When can I leave?" Reid asked breaking the stillness in the air, he could feel Winter's smirk in the way he moved in front of the window.

"When I see fit." The doctor replied, Reid felt his stomach knot

"When might that be?" he asked, keeping his voice as steady as he knew how, he knew there was nothing he could do right now if Winter's decided to have him locked up and sedated again, all his knowledge and experience was wasted in a few anxiety attacks that now left him at the mercy of Winter's and the hospital staff.

Spencer watched as Winter's turned around to face him, he wasn't afraid of the man. Although he wasn't stupid enough to think he was the one who was in control anymore. Reid felt an itch under his skin and he unconsciously scratched at his arms. He stopped as Winter's looked at him harder, the scratches on his arms from a week or so before were still healing and were raised and red from Reid's uncontrollable scratching. Winter's walked over to Reid and reached out for his hand, Reid pushed himself back in the chair and pulled his hands in but Winter's ignored this and took Reid by the wrist. He turned Spencer's arm over in his hands looked at the scratches. Reid looked at him with contempt.

"We won't have any more of this Spencer." He said pressing his finger against one of the scratches, Reid bit the inside of his mouth as Winter's curled in his finger and dragged his nail over the scratch pulling the wound open, bright red blood beaded up to the surface. Reid groaned in disgust as Winter's pulled Reid's arm towards himself and licked the blood away.

"Stop." Reid said flatly. Winter's didn't acknowledge the words as he pulled Reid closer and turned the young man's wrist hard in his hands. Spencer's eyes were pained as he continued to move away from Winter's shifting his body in the chair away from the morbid doctor.

"I could break your wrist if I wanted to." Winter's said increasing his grip, Reid locked eyes with him

"You can't get away with this." the doctor gave him a look that was a mixture of what Reid thought may be astonishment and power.

"It's your word against mine." He said frankly reaching out with his other hand and stroking the side of Spencer's face, who immediately pulled his face away from the touch, the doctor smiled sickeningly as he ran the back of his hand across Spencer's jaw.

"You're just another crazy patient Dr. Reid." he turned Reid's wrist slightly and smirked at the pain it caused.

"I doubt our closed door… experiences will leave this room, just as much as I know you will never admit you were involved with the Boston Reaper." He raised his head as he watched Spencer react to his words.

"You don't know anything about that." Reid said his voice strained as he tried to repress the need to cry out from the pain Winter's was causing in his wrist.

"I've read what the papers are saying; New suspect in the Reaper killings, FBI agent an accessory to mass murder." Reid hadn't been allowed to read any of the newspapers so whatever was being said out in the world he had no way to defend himself from it.

"Speculation." He said still not looking at Winter's, the doctor released Reid's wrist suddenly almost making his chair fall back, Spencer pulled his wrist towards his chest and looked down into his lap as Winter's rounded the chair.

"And what if he's convicted?" he said behind the chair, his hot breath on the side of Spencer's face. Reid turned his eyes towards the window.

"He won't be…" he said more to himself than anything else, Reid shut his eyes as he felt Winter's hand move over the top of his head and his fingers entangle in his hair, he closed his fist as the doctors other hand moved down his shoulder and inside his shirt.

"Don't." Reid said, his face was hot as Winter's took Reid's hair in his hands slowly and pulled his head tight against the back of the chair, he stiffened as Winter's hand moved down his neck and further down his chest.

"Don't." he said again, he could feel the doctor tightening his grip as he pulled Reid's head further back in the chair.

"Or what?" he asked gruffly. Reid couldn't stand it anymore he grabbed Winter's hand and pulled it away from his body, he pulled his head away from the chair fast enough that Winter's hold was broken and he was free from him, he stood with his back to the large desk.

"Don't – touch me!" Spencer stated as clear and cold as glass. Winter's only gave him that sick smile of his as he backed away from the chair and rounded the desk, Reid followed him with his eyes and moved away from the desk as Winter's leaned over it.

"Spencer…" she started his eyes traveling over the young man's body, it disgusted Reid.

"The longer you resist treatment… the longer and I promise you this… you'll be here." Reid couldn't believe what he was hearing, his mind raced back to cases he'd worked with corrupt therapists, police officers and public officials. He couldn't believe how much evil was in this world, and how the rape of innocence and reason was so tangible to people like Winter's. They just took whatever they wanted… whenever they wanted it with no regard for anything more than their own desire.

"Now sit down." Winter's commanded as he stood straight up, Reid felt his chest rise and fall and a sick feeling knot inside his stomach as he slowly took his place back in the seat before the desk. Just as it had been with Henkel… there was nothing he was going to be able to do now.

-CM-

George lay on his back throwing a stone he found on the floor up in the air and catching it again. An officer paced back in forth and the persistent sound of shoes on cold concrete floor echoed through the holding cells. George sighed as he missed catching the stone and it clattered to the floor and rolled out of the cell, he watched as the guard kicked it away down the hall and exchanged a look with him as he passed. He crossed his arms behind his head and groaned as he lay there, his shoulder burned with a numbing pain but he ignored it. He listened to the sounds of muffled voices outside the door that was at the end of the hall. He could hear a woman's voice and he knew already who it was when the door opened and her heels clicked along the floor towards his cell.

He didn't move as Emily Prentiss stood outside his cell.

"To what do I owe this honor?" he asked closing his eyes, Emily held her jacket in her arms as she looked over the cell, there was nothing more than a pull down wooden bed and a metal toilet that had no seat.

"I want to talk to you." She said, her words sounded uneven to him and he wondered if she was playing emotional as a rouse to get him to react to her.

"I've been advised of my rights, I'm not supposed to talk to you." He said crossing his foot over the other; Emily pulled a chair away from the wall and sat next to the cell.

"What about Spencer?" she asked, Foyet was getting tired of this question but he didn't answer her.

"If you care about him you'll do the right thing." Foyet laughed and the sound seemed to bounce around the room like the stone he had lost.

"And what might the right thing be?" he asked clearly amused by her words, Emily looked down the hall at a clock positioned over the door.

"Why were you in Charles Wagner's car?" she asked the same question she had so many hours ago.

"Why don't you ask him yourself?" George said grinning; Emily was getting tired of this game.

"Do you remember being attacked?" Foyet shook his head a grin still painted on his face

"Do you remember being in his car?" she asked, he shook his head again and she stood up

"God damn it! Do you remember anything?" she said banging her palm against the bars, George was amused this was getting to her.

"Oh yes, I remember a lot of things." Emily exhaled deeply as she sat back in the chair

"Charles Wagner?" she asked, Foyet nodded and Emily felt her spirit lift a little.

"You don't forget a face like his…" George said opening his eyes and looking at Emily upside down, even in this strange position he still had that dark and empty stare.

"Why did you recount details about the case to Agent Hotchner?" she asked not breaking eye contact.

"Because it was fun." Foyet said plainly turning over on his stomach as he continued to look at her.

"Aaron Hotchner thinks he can corner me with details that weren't kept from the public; he knows that I know these things. He wants me to admit to things he doesn't know yet." Emily leaned closer

"Like what?" George grinned widely

"You see." He said "You think I'm stupid too." He stood and the height difference between them was slightly unsettling even though Foyet was behind bars.

"There's nothing you can prove Agent Prentiss." George said walking up to cell door; the guard was slowly walking back to the cell as he noticed George approaching Emily.

"With… or without Doctor Reid…" Foyet backed away from the bars as the guard came closer and motioned for Emily to back away from the cell. Their eyes were still locked onto each other's as Emily rose from the chair.

"This isn't over." She said clutching her jacket to her chest; Foyet turned his head slightly as she began to walk away.

"No it's far from over." He said under his breath as Emily walked out the door and shut it behind her.


	3. Speculation

Aaron splashed his face with water and sighed at the cooling sensation that dripped down his tired face; he turned the faucets and looked into the mirror staring at his own reflection. Was he right? Was Foyet the Reaper? He had to be, there were so many details that only could add up to him being the killer, yet Boston P.D. was convinced they had found the Reaper in the charred remains of Charles Wagner, or were they wrong? Was the lead detective just afraid of admitting he was once again mistaken? Boston was quiet for the most part now; the story about Reid and Foyet had been published in an enquirer. And no other papers had bothered to pick up the story at that point. Names had been kept out of it but the BAU had been fingered directly as the organization that may hold a traitor that had allied itself with a potential murderer. Had Reid known all this time? How could he not? Aaron wiped his face on a towel and exited the room lying back on his bed.

They had a matter of days now to keep Foyet in custody, he didn't seem to mind being interrogated it wasn't until he was appointed a lawyer that he began to clam up, he had recounted details about the case to Aaron that was kept from the press but as Emily had told him that evening Foyet claimed to have learned the details from Spencer. They couldn't prove otherwise without interrogating Reid, and currently that was out of the question. Aaron groaned staring up at the ceiling, what was he going to do?

Elsewhere Garcia had been fruitlessly searching for a way to help Reid, if he could be discharged or given some kind of radical treatment to deal with his outbursts. She wondered silently if he chose to be locked away as a retreat from the world outside, but couldn't convince herself that possibility was true. What was most worrying to her was what she had found out about Doctor Winter's. Three patients in his care had died mysteriously over the past five years, all suicides it had been ruled the cases were all younger men and all shared similarities to the condition Reid was now suffering from. They had no real visitors and there were no complaints against Doctor Winter's, at least none that were documented. Garcia decided for her own piece of mind she'd have to find out what really happened behind closed doors.

-CM-

Reid lie uncomfortably in his bed, it sat in the middle of the room. The lights from the hall shone through the window on the door and made it hard to sleep, that and the constant buzz of the florescent bulbs. He shifted under the grey blanket listening to drone of the lights and the occasional muffled cry of a distraught patient. Play Nice the words echoed inside his head along with his… session with Doctor Winter's. there had to be some way to at least be transferred from his care, he knew he would have to make "progress" in the eyes of the hospital staff in order to be released and at this point he was nowhere close to that. Reid shifted as he heard a strange tapping sound and looked towards the door, he could just see the top of someone's head through the window. Slowly he rose from the iron bed and walked towards the door, he was immediately startled when the head popped up to reveal Victoria.

"Spencer." She whispered, Reid looked at her quizzically. How did she get out of her room? She waved at him excitedly and he waved back at her gently before she scurried away. Reid walked over to the door and pressed his hand against the glass and watched as the redhead hid around a corner waiting for a nurse to pass down the hall then scampered out of sight. From what he had gathered Victoria had been in the institution for a very long time, she was schizophrenic and prone to violent outbursts; her fascination with him was rather unsettling. She'd been on his heels since he'd arrived at the hospital even though the first few days were… all but a blur he remembered the shadow of a red haired girl constantly hovering around him whenever he was out of his room.

Within a few moments Victoria came back around the corner and hid once again, Reid backed away from the door slightly as she ran to it, hiding in the frame. She held up a nail and a paper clip in her other hand smiling strangely at him, Reid was unsure of how to react to her but he nodded slowly. Her smile widened and then she disappeared again. The light of the hall once again painted a long square of white inside the tiny room; Reid exhaled slowly and walked back to the bed sitting down on it hard. His mind wandered to his own home and his own bed, then he found himself thinking about George and he felt his heart hammer in his chest. He swallowed hard and laid back on the bed his legs still over one side with his feet on the cold floor. When was this going to end?

At that same time George was knocking his head against the cold floor, he was lying in the corner of the cell with his legs up against the bars. His head was numb and cold already so any pain he caused it wasn't registering; he arched his back slightly at the stiffness that had settled into his bones. He wondered about the coming days, his mind played out scenarios of escape and he tried desperately to shove his memories of Spencer aside for those moments, seeking clarity in what he knew would be important in the conversations that awaited him in the morning.

"Comfortable?" George didn't acknowledge the guard who walked over to the cell, he tapped his night stick against the bars where George had his feet propped up. George's eyes slowly traveled from the night stick up to meet the eyes of the guard, he was a black man with a clean shaven head, he didn't seem too amused to be babysitting Foyet. Who right now was the only person occupying the holding cell area. There had been a drunk at one point but his wife showed up a few hours later and bailed him out.

"Got something to say?" the guard asked when George didn't stop staring. Foyet shook his head and crossed his arms behind his head and stared up at the ceiling again. The guard rolled his eyes and walked back down to the end of the room where there was a small desk and chair by the door, there were only two lights on. One above the door that led out into the station and one that flickered by the last cell at the end of the room. A moth circled the flickering light occasionally making a gentle ping sound against the metal shade that hung down around the bulb. George closed his eyes rolling his neck back and forth tomorrow was going to be a long day.

-CM-

The morning came too soon when Reid was awoken to the sounds of the door unlocking and a nurse making her way inside with a paper cup full of pills for him to take, she handed it to him and stood waiting with another cup of water in hand.

Spencer examined the pills as he had every morning the nurse brought him something, he could tell what they were by the markings and colors, he wasn't very worried about the effects they had. Anti-Psychotics… the only thing they did was numbed his intelligence, which seemed to help with his headaches, he popped them into his mouth and she handed him the water which he downed. She then continued to wait and Reid opened his mouth to show her he had swallowed them, she smiled at him and exited the room leaving it unlocked. As soon as she left Reid thumped back in the bed and lay there staring up at the ceiling, he heard the door creak slightly but he didn't look up. Within moments he was startled by Victoria who jumped onto the bed next to him.

"Hi Spencer." She said in a cheerful tone, Reid nodded in her direction but continued to stare at the ceiling. Victoria craned her neck around to see what he was looking at before falling on her side to lay next to him; Reid sighed as she cuddled into him and stared up along with him.

"Do you like me?" she asked, Reid wasn't sure how to respond but nodded humming as he did so. His reaction made Victoria giggle and she hugged him which was an uninviting feeling.

"Victoria." Hearing her name come from Reid's lips made her sit up and look at him, she nodded

"Uh huh?" Reid pulled his bottom lip in wrinkled his brow

"What were you doing last night?" she bit the end of her thumb and grinned at him, Reid cocked and eyebrow and she giggled kneeling over him to whisper in his ear.

"I know how to get out of the hospital." She said softly

"None of that!" Reid looked upside down towards the door as did Victoria to see a nurse standing there.

"Come on now." She said clapping her hands at Victoria who got out of the bed and made her way towards the door, the nurse put a hand on her shoulder and pushed her out into the hall.

"You know patients are not to be in each other's rooms without staff permission." Reid nodded at her and looked back at the ceiling; the nurse groaned and left the room, leaving Reid alone with his thoughts.

-CM-

George rolled his head from side to side as he once again sat in the interrogation room, Fletcher next to him Hotch and Morgan across the table, he wasn't even paying attention, he had figured after a half hour of Fletcher saying

"Don't answer that." He'd just be detached for the rest of the session, although now he was being addressed and clearly wasn't paying attention.

"Foyet." George yawned and finally met eyes with Aaron, shaking his head slightly to show he had no idea what was going on

Morgan groaned clearly frustrated

"Are we boring you?" he asked, George gave him a smirk

"Yes." He said very nonchalantly, Derek couldn't stop himself from reaching across the table to grab Foyet by the collar, at the same moment his lawyer put his hands out to try and extract Foyet from Derek's grip. George just stared amused at Morgan who yelled at him more of the same things he had been yelling in the past few days.

When Derek finally let go Aaron excused him from the room, George looked up at ceiling and teetered his chair slightly making his chains clank against the floor as he moved.

"Agent Hotchner, if you can't keep your agents under control I will be forced to request their absence at these meeting." Aaron pulled at his suit jacket straightening it as he sat back down.

"It won't happen again I assure you." Fletcher didn't look convinced

"Do you have anything new or relevant to add to this conversation?" he asked, Hotch bit the end of his tongue as he flipped open his folder and skimmed through pages, Fletcher crossed his arms and sat back in his chair a smug look on his face. He was winning this one hands down and he knew it.

Aaron placed three photos on the table, they were images of the eye the Reaper had painted at the crime scenes, they were enlarged to show the tiny scratched in addresses. Fletcher turned to Foyet and put his hand on his shoulder forcing the chair down on its four legs again. George sighed and looked down at the photos, then shrugged his shoulders.

"These numbers represent your residences in Boston." George nodded

"So?" Fletcher asked, Aaron searched his mind for words

"Do you have any idea how or why they are there?" Fletcher exhaled deeply and stood up

"Agent Hotchner its been established that the Boston Reaper was aware of Mr. Foyet's whereabouts, are you suggesting my client was indeed the Reaper himself and placed incriminating information at each of the crime scenes on purpose?" Aaron nodded

"Yes I am."

"Why would I do that?" George asked, Fletcher wasn't expecting Foyet to answer and he sat back down as Aaron continued

"You wanted to be caught, you wanted the world to know the Reaper was alive and well, you couldn't stand being out of the spot light anymore, you wanted to see the fear you caused first hand. You wanted Boston to know they were at your mercy." George smirked slightly as he leaned across the table

"And why is that?" he asked, his voice was raspy and it brought Aaron back to countless interrogations he'd run before.

"You're a narcissist; you need that fear to feed your ego." George leaned back in his chair again

"Interesting theory agent Hotchner."

"It's not a theory though is it Foyet? I'm right, you know it…" George gave a sarcastic grin

"Being a narcissist doesn't make my client a serial killer." Fletcher stated matter of factly.

"You still have no evidence to prove my client committed those crimes."

"We have his DNA in Charles Wagner's car." Aaron said not breaking eye contact with Foyet

"That proves he was bleeding in the vehicle, you also found blood on the bridge which suggested my client was dumped in the bay."

"Yes it suggests that." Aaron said pulling the photos back into the folder

"Foyet has yet to enlighten us on how he survived the attack and ended up in Virginia." George looked to Fletcher

"My client maintains his innocence agent Hotchner, he was injured and afraid for his life, he went to the only place he felt safe. Obviously your agent didn't think it important enough to inform you of my client's recent whereabouts at that time."

Hotch exhaled sharply

"I refuse to believe Dr. Reid protected a murderer unless he was being forced to." George rolled his eyes, which was seen by Aaron but not the lawyer

"We're done here Agent Hotchner, if you can't provide proof that my client is indeed the Boston Reaper by tomorrow I am filing for his release."

Aaron stood up nearly knocking the chair back

"We have authorization to keep him here for the next week." Fletcher gave a snide grin

"I happen to be close friends with the judge who is overlooking this farce agent Hotchner, and we are not going to waste more of the city's tax dollars or the worries of the people of Boston on your department's bad feeling. Some of us have real criminals to catch." And with that he left the room, leaving George and Aaron alone for a brief moment.

"That must hurt." George said watching Fletcher talk to the guards outside

"This isn't over." Aaron said, Foyet chuckled

"You know I keep hearing that but…" he looked around

"You don't seem to be getting anywhere do you?" Aaron clenched his fists as the guards came in and began unchaining Foyet from the floor.

"See you around." Foyet said with a grin as he was escorted out of the room. Aaron cursed under his breath as he watched Foyet being taken back towards the holding cells. He passed Morgan and grinned visibly frustrating the agent who strode over to the interrogation room and opened the door.

"Hotch." Morgan said exasperated, Aaron shook his head and Derek pounded his hand on the door frame.

"What are we supposed to do?" Aaron looked down at the folder picking it up from the table.

"We're going to have to talk to Reid." he said as he exited the room, Derek sighed. Things were about to get ugly.


	4. In Sickness

Garcia stood with her feet pressed together as she stood outside the door to the hospital. It was an older building with thick grey stone walls, unlike any of the other mental facilities around Virginia. Garcia had to do some digging to figure out why Reid had been transferred here instead of a hospital that may have been more capable to address his specific needs. The short answer was this hospital had room and Virginia general couldn't keep Reid in emergency so he was immediately transferred upon notice that Dr. Winter's had space for him.

Still it pulled at Penelope's heart that Reid had to be here, he had been signed into the facility against his will during some kind of psychotic episode and without any rational family members to claim him he was now under Dr. Winter's mental custody. Morgan and JJ had tried to find some way around this but weren't fast enough as paperwork was already signed and Reid was placed in Winter's care before they even knew anything further.

The wind chilled as it fluttered Garcia's skirt around her knees and she finally decided to step inside, she was greeted at the front desk by an older woman who took her bag and any sharp objects and placed them in a box behind the desk. She was then motioned to an elevator or a set of stairs she could climb to reach the third floor where Reid was. She opted for the elevator and drew in a shaky breath as the numbers climbed towards the floor, when it opened she could hear the clatter of food carts and the hushed tone of voices off to her right, she exited the elevator and turned in the direction of the voices. The patients were all in the recreation room which had a large wooden door with a window in it, the wall that closed the room off from the end of the hall was made of glass with wire mesh through it. Penelope stood outside the glass wall for a moment and watched the patients inside.

There was a television that a few of them were watching figure skating on, some were at tables playing cards or sitting in chairs being read to by nurses or visitors. A red headed girl was skipping about the room dancing and singing to herself and then there was Spencer, sitting by the window staring out at the snow and trees that shook ever so gently in the wind. Garcia could feel her chest tighten and she thought maybe this had been a bad idea, but her fear subsided quickly as a nurse noticed her by the door and opened it to greet her.

"Are you visiting?" she asked, Garcia nodded biting her bottom lip. She was wearing a bright green colored dress and an equally bright floral jacket, her lips were colored with a bright red lipstick and her blond hair slightly curled sitting nicely behind a silver headband.

"Spencer Reid?" she asked clearing her throat and giving the nurse a genuine smile, the nurse returned it and opened the door.

"He's at the window where he always is." She said extending an arm; Garcia nodded her thanks and stepped inside. A little uncomfortable at first because of the stares she received, all the patients were wearing white or grey clothes; they didn't stare for long before going back to their activity's. Garcia smiled meekly at the redhead who skipped past her waving excitedly at her until finally she reached the window.

"Hi." She said in almost a squeak, Reid turned clearly not expecting to hear her voice. He looked relieved and somewhat astonished

"Hi." He said back, a smile spread over his face and it lifted Penelope's spirit. She pulled a chair over and sat next to him as he looked back out the window.

"Feeling alright?" Reid nodded resting his elbow on the window sill.

"As alright as I can be I suppose." It made Penelope's heart ache for Reid to have to be here.

"Sorry I didn't come and see you sooner." Reid shook his head knowing full well why no one had come

"I'm sure it's complicated." He said his hand rested on his chin, Garcia half nodded and half shook her head unsure of her answer

"They treating you ok?" Reid didn't say anything, his eyes faltered from the window only a moment before he looked back out at the trees that bent in the wind.

"I'm sorry." She said fidgeting with her hands in her lap

"How are… things?" she asked, Reid crossed his arms as he looked at her then

"Do you want me to say something in particular Garcia? I'm not happy being here if that's what your fishing for." Garcia opened her mouth but no words came out

"I'm sorry Reid." she said looking into her lap again

"What for?" he said pushing his chair back slightly "No one's calling you crazy." Garcia closed her fists

"I never said you were crazy Reid." Spencer sighed and looked at his foot as he teetered the chair on two legs.

"Are you here to give Hotch some kind of… piece of mind?" Garcia knit her brow and leaned in

"I just want to make sure you're alright." Reid's eyes met hers and she felt a shiver snake its way up her spine.

"As long as I'm here, I won't be." He said, he averted his eyes to the door and she noticed a complete change in his demeanor, she looked up and saw Dr. Winters talking with one of the nurses. He must have come in unexpectedly.

"Reid?" Spencer's throat tightened as he watched Winter's who exchanged a look with him before leaving the rec room and closing the door behind him. Penelope watched as the tension seemed to lift from Reid's face though his knuckles were white as he held his arms against himself.

"Reid are you ok?" he didn't answer her with words, just a look of malcontent. A nurse came over and gently pushed Reid's chair to sit on four legs again.

"Spencer your appointment has been changed to this afternoon." Reid's eyes didn't leave Garcia's as he nodded.

"Ma'am I'm going to have to ask you to leave now." Garcia broke her gaze from Reid's and nodded at the nurse

"Yeah.. ok." She said getting to her feet. Reid watched her with heavy eyes as she walked back towards the door.

"I'll see you." She said waving at him; he barely nodded at her as she left the room. Once outside the door Garcia quickly made her way to the elevator and let hot tears spill from her eyes. Something was so wrong here, and she had to do something to stop it.

-CM-

George sat in his cell watching a moth from the night before circle the light near the end of the room, he could be discharged tomorrow… he didn't know how he felt about that. He had in full honesty admitted things to agent Hotchner that incriminated him and clearly showed he was the Boston Reaper, it was interesting to him that the city of Boston had rallied on his side to have him released… the fools really believed Wagner was the Reaper, it only bothered him a little knowing someone random he had picked out was getting the credit for his foul deeds. The thought was stricken from him when he heard agent Morgan mention Reid being locked in an institution, and that he blamed Foyet for that.

George had been unaware of Spencer's circumstances until that moment and wasn't given any more details, he also hadn't asked for fear of incriminating Reid somehow. But he couldn't stop himself from wondering how Reid was doing, it made his heart sick to think of him being caged like an animal, he himself could deal with that much easier than Reid might be able to. He'd been treated like an object, a thing for most of his life so being contained wasn't something that scared or bothered him in anyway. The moth's wings panged against the metal shade as it fluttered closer to the hot light that surely would sear its life away.

At that same time Reid found himself with his head pressed against Winter's desk, he had disagreed with the mad doctor once and when Winter's had rounded the chair he hadn't expected to have his head slammed against the desk. His temples ached and his knee's fell hard against the floor as the chair was kicked away from behind him. Reid put his hands on the desk and pushed back but fell to the floor as he was kicked hard in the back of his leg. Winter's looked down at him.

"Nobody here questions me." The doctor said, Reid shook his head trying to free himself from the pain that filled him like an overflowing cup. He felt his breath escape him as Winter's kicked him hard in the chest.

"Least of all someone as insignificant as you!" Reid groaned deeply still gasping for breath as Winter's pulled him by the hair to his feet and threw him against the desk once more. Reid had to grasp at the side of the desk to stay up. Suddenly he felt himself being pressed down hard and as his breath caught he began flailing his arms to grab at something, anything to get away from the doctors grasp. Winter's must have expected Reid to fight back as the desk only had papers atop it. The name plate and pens had been removed. Reid gasped as he felt the back of his shirt being pulled up swiftly.

"Stop!" he stammered trying to move away but Winter's was pressed hard against his legs, keeping him from standing.

"Don't fight me Spencer." He said gruffly as he put one hand on Reid's bare back and used the other to grope between Reid's legs, it felt terrible and wrong. Reid struggled against the desk but couldn't get the leverage to push Winter's off of him. Suddenly he couldn't breathe and he immediately noted that Winter's had taken off his tie and pulled it tight around his throat. Reid struggled to get his fingers underneath the smooth fabric; he felt his eyes bulge and his breath catch in his chest.

"Just relax." Winter's commanded as he moved his free hand still between Reid's legs, a shrill noise escaped Reid's lips as he pulled at the tie that Winter's held tightly wrapped around one hand and pulled behind Reid's back. He slowly loosened his grip and heard Reid gasp for the air that instantly filled his lungs, he pulled back just enough to make it hard for Reid to breath, he watched as the young man tried to turn his head, his face was red and his eyes were wild with anger.

"Calm yourself." Winter's coaxed, Reid's eyes widened as the doctors clammy hand moved inside his pants. Winter's pulled the fabric down in one swift motion making Reid gasp against the strangle hold he held him in.

"It's so much easier if you just relax." He said, Reid groaned and foreign noise escaping his throat as he felt the older man press into him. His skin burned as Winter's tried to spread his legs more and pushed hard against him. The sensation was overwhelming and extremely painful, Winter's groaned with pleasure as Reid continued to grasp at the tie around his neck. He shut his eyes tight as Winter's rocked against him pushing him against the desk, he felt himself tear and warm blood began to trickle down between his legs. Tears welled in his eyes as his face flushed with blood, and Winter's slammed into him again and again. Pulling the tie tighter as he got closer and closer to release, his eyes tried to focus but his vision blurred, tears streamed down his face and his hands finally dropped from his throat as he passed out.

Elsewhere Fletcher had come back to discuss Foyet's release and he was given some civilian clothes, so far the BAU had not brought anything of use up so Fletcher had taken it upon himself to prepare for his own personal victory against Agent Hotchner. George nodded at all the things Fletcher pointed out, not leaving the city right away in case the BAU decided to pursue things further, and other routine things of the same nature. Then he left George to sleep, which was something he couldn't do right now, he had on overwhelming feeling of helplessness inside and was unsure as to why, his mind had instantly wandered to Spencer and he felt a quaking in his chest as he lie there looking up at the bare ceiling hopefully for the last night. He only could hope the young agent was alright.

Reid had found himself awake suddenly on Winter's psychiatric couch. The doctor was writing things at his desk as if nothing had happened between them minutes maybe hours before, Reid didn't know how long he'd been out. As he went to sit up he opened his mouth and gasped silently at the pain that shot through his body and against his better judgement he lay back down, he saw Winter's smirk from behind glasses perched on his nose.

"You should have relaxed." He said frankly, scribbling something down on the papers in front of him.

Reid knit his brow, this wasn't in the least bit amusing to him and he cursed himself for not being able to escape from the mad doctors grasp before things got to where they had.

"I must say Spencer you're not making half as much progress as I hoped you would." Reid pushed himself to sit up and slowly stood.

"And what does that mean?" he asked, the air in his lungs felt numb as he shuffled towards the desk. Everything was once again placed neatly where it had been the day before, name plate, pens and pencils… a letter opener. Reid looked at Winter's who wore a smug look from behind those glasses.

"You've been signed into my care; in my professional opinion I believe you may never fully recover from what ails you." Reid felt his heart race and he tried desperately to keep the panic that shook his hands in check. He couldn't lose it now.

"You… you can't do this to people." He said, he felt his teeth begin to chatter and he breathed between them silently as Winter's put down his papers.

"No?" the doctor said in mock surprise. Reid studied his face.

"I'm not the first am I?" he said, the look on Winter's face was enough proof of that.

"Spencer if I was ever going to be caught don't you think I would do… anything to keep that from happening." Reid watched him carefully as he opened his desk drawer to reveal a gun, a sick feeling spread through Spencer's veins like a plague.

"I'll stop you." He said and his response was met with laughter

"You did a great job of that moments before." Reid shifted from foot to foot, as he stared at the Doctor who once again shut the desk drawer.

"Now this is our little secret Spencer," Reid watched Winter's get up from his chair and this time he didn't turn his back on him as the twisted doctor circled the desk and stood in front of him.

"Remember it's your word against mine." He put a finger to his lips and smiled menacingly. Reid felt sick to his stomach.

"Now get out of my office." He said going back to his desk, Reid felt robbed somehow as he shuffled towards the door and opened it. He wondered if it had been open all this time as he stepped out and closed the door behind him and began to make his way down the hall to his room, he thought back to that morning and to the words Victoria had whispered to him, Garcia's concern, that tie around his throat, Winter's fucking him and without warning Reid wretched and fell to his knee's on the floor. He heard a nurse call for another as he vomited on the white tile floor, there was blood in it. His body ached and his mind screamed out the event that had just transpired. An orderly grabbed Reid by the arm and he pulled away backing into a doorway, the orderly fought to hold Reid down which only made Spencer fight him more. This caused a nurse to come rushing up to him with a syringe full of something; Reid cried out as she stabbed it into his side and plunged the contents into his veins. Within moments he relaxed and the orderly pulled him up and towards his room, the nurse following close behind.

Reid felt tears streaming down his face as the orderly put him down on the bed, he wasn't asleep he felt as if he were swimming in a dream. Once again he saw the familiar wisp of red hair; Victoria had come in the room. The nurse excused the orderly and the young girl stood with her arms behind her back watching, he heard the nurse speak to her and she responded but obviously wasn't told to leave as she remained in the doorway. The nurse wiped Reid's face with a damp cloth and pulled a blanket up over him.

"Spencer can you hear me?" she said much too close to his face, Reid's eyes barely flashed over hers and she nodded at him.

"You're alright Spencer, you're alright now." She said fitting the blanket around him, she went to the end of the bed and pulled off his shoes. Victoria came to his side and looked down at him, a strange smile plastered on her face as per usual.

"Leave him alone Vicky." The nurse said taking the shoes and placing them under the bed, Victoria's eyes went from the nurse then back to Reid who stared at her searching for a meaning to her presence, she put a hand on the mattress and leaned over kissing him on the head. She backed away as the nurse grabbed her by the back of her shirt.

"Alright lover girl out with you." She said, Victoria scurried out of the room in front of the nurse who shut and locked the door, Reid felt a shadow stare at him through the glass before skipping away then he was out.


	5. Wit Beyond Measure

The night had come and gone and George found himself being released from his cell, he felt almost like a zoo animal that had never allowed outdoors, or a dog in a purse who was unaware of the ground beneath its feet. He walked out slowly as Fletcher patted him on the back, Foyet didn't share his enthusiasm. As they left the holding cell and made their way down the hall past the interrogation room. Hotch was standing with his arms crossed while Emily sat next to him, she stood when she saw Foyet coming down the hall towards the front desk with Fletcher.

"Agent Hotchner." Fletcher said, clearly pleased with himself, Aaron nodded but refused the hand shake Fletcher extended. Foyet was given a bag from behind the desk of his clothes that had been taken from him, they were bloody still from the gunshot wound Hotch had inflicted upon him. He ran his thumb over the plastic looking at the bloody garments inside, Emily watched him as he did so, while Fletcher continued to bother Hotch.

"I believe you owe my client an apology." Aaron didn't respond to that crack either

"You're making a mistake." Was all that came from him as he walked past Fletcher and down the hall, George turned to watch Aaron leave as did Emily who felt somewhat uncomfortable being left with Foyet by the front desk. Fletcher once again patted George on the back and wished him well. Foyet didn't say anything as the lawyer left; probably to collect a cheque from someone at Boston P.D. instead he turned his attention to Emily who was not expecting that in the least.

For a moment they just looked at each other until she spoke.

"You're free to go." She said reluctantly, George looked back at his bag of belongings then to Emily once more

"Am I agent Prentiss?" Emily turned her head slightly

"I doubt that." He said as he pulled the plastic bag open and rummaged for his wallet. The contents had been bagged separately and Foyet groaned upon seeing this, he folded the bag over itself and looked towards the doors that led outside.

"What are you waiting for?" Emily asked curiously. Foyet looked at her hard

"I should ask you the same thing." And with that he turned and walked out the doors, he had been given a pair of jeans, sneakers and a dark sweater. His shoulder and side burned as the cold wind blew against him; he wrapped his arms around himself and walked across the street. This felt so strange and he knew instantly he was being watched. He stopped on the corner to survey his surrounding and quietly noted agent Morgan parked a block or so away. So that was their game, Foyet wasn't new to this; he could lose them quicker than they could start their car to attempt to follow him. He began to walk swiftly down the sidewalk and ducked into a restaurant before Morgan had a chance to see him. Emily exited the station and opened her cell.

"Where did he go?" Morgan instantly wanted to know

"He went into that restaurant." Emily said walking briskly across the street.

"Don't lose him." Derek said as he pulled around the corner and drove past her. Foyet had cut through the back of the restaurant almost unnoticed and out the back door near the freezers, he then went in through an open loading door to a paper supply store beside the restaurant and picked up one of the worker jackets and pulled it on, he tossed his bag of belongings onto a conveyer belt of items that were being mulched and piled into bins, he walked out through the employee side door into the garage noticing sets of keys hanging beside the security booth he picked one off the wall and strode past the booth where a large man was eating a burger and watching security surveillance.

"See yah later." George called out to him the security guard just waved his hand in Foyet's direction not even looking up to see who it was. Foyet walked over to a numbered company truck that matched the key and got in. he picked up a hat that sat in the passenger seat and put it on as he pulled out of the parking stall and drove up the ramp that led out into the street.

Emily was searching heads still in the restaurant that was packed full of people, she made her way to the kitchen and flashed her badge at a cook as she looked around… nothing.

Derek pulled around the corner and into the alley behind the restaurant, a truck passed him as he exited his car and within moments was met by Emily who came out the back door. She shrugged her shoulders and Derek slammed his hand against is car door.

"How could we lose him?" he wanted desperately to know, Emily shook her head looking around the alley, the snow was no help to them as it was packed down and covered in foot prints. Hotch was not going to be happy with them.

-CM-

Reid groaned as he stirred awake, he had slept the entire afternoon and night away. He noticed a paper cup with pills in it sitting next to another cup half full of water, the morning nurse must have left it for him. Slowly he pushed himself up to sit which was still quite tender; he stopped as he felt something hard beneath his hands. He fingered the mattress pad and noticed a long impression that hadn't been there before. Slowly he worked his fingers around it and pressed the object out of the fabric… it was a nail. Reid stared at it wondering how it had gotten there; he briefly recalled Victoria in his room the day before and wondered if she had put it there. He pushed it back into the fabric as he heard the door being unlocked.

"You have a visitor Spencer." Reid looked towards the door only a moment before looking away again, it was Rossi. Of all people to show up he had never expected to see Dave. Rossi shut the door behind him and stood in the doorway. Reid didn't look back at him as he shifted painfully on the bed. Rossi could see the discomfort in Reid's movement and he slowly walked towards the former agent.

"Garcia talked to me yesterday." He said, it sounded as if he were addressing the room.

"She's worried about you." Reid scratched his palm as he rested his socked feet on the floor.

"She thinks… this is a bad place for you." Reid's eyes turned to see Rossi's shoes but he didn't look up.

"She thinks… there might be something… how did she put it – icky and creepy about Dr. Winter's." Reid looked up at Rossi then whose words were validated by the look on the younger man's face.

"Is she right to worry?" there was an incredible shame that welled beneath the surface and Reid couldn't hold eye contact for very long before looking to the floor. Rossi knelt next to him.

"Reid, we want to help you out, tell us if you need our help." Reid wasn't sure who he could trust, he had heard Derek and Emily outside the door a week before talking about how it had been George who had done this to him, JJ had never come to see him and Hotch had stood outside the door once or twice but never entered the room. They wanted to interrogate him about George, and he had waited for it and expected it but the conversation never came and inside he had to wonder… why?

A shivering breath escaped him and Rossi put a hand on his knee, the contact made Reid shudder and Rossi removed his hand.

"Hey kid." He said, "What's going on?" Reid didn't answer he knew there was nothing he could prove against Winter's and what was he supposed to say to Dave? That Winter's had raped him? That's what was wrong? He couldn't even form the words without stifling his own breath. Rossi's eyes wandered over Reid's pained face and he searched for the words to give him some form of comfort.

"Foyet…" he began and Reid felt his nails press into his palms as he clenched his fists.

"Foyet was released this morning." Reid looked at Dave with astonishment. His eyes pleading for answers

"We don't know where he is." Dave said shaking his head, "JJ and I aren't pursuing the case against him… there's a lot of red tape and… Hotch is getting a lot of heat for trying to keep things open." Reid felt his foot begin to tap uncontrollably.

"What does that have to do with me?" He mumbled, Dave sighed unsure of what to do.

"I thought you should know, Garcia is doing everything she can to get you transferred from here." Reid looked back into Rossi's face, clearly intrigued but also confused.

"To where?" Rossi shrugged his shoulders,

"Like I said Reid… there's a lot of red tape." Reid exhaled sharply as he looked back down at the floor.

"Please…" he said very quietly, Rossi listened intently

"Please hurry." He said their eyes meeting each other, Rossi could sense the urgency in the young man's gaze and he nodded, the door opened interrupting them, Dave looked towards it.

"Spencer Dr. Winter's would like to see you." Reid grit his teeth and clenched his fists tighter, it didn't go unnoticed by Rossi who stood up.

"I'll have to ask you to leave now agent Rossi." Dave nodded

"Yes of course." He put a hand on Reid's shoulder, he was stiff and his knee bounced as his foot tapped on the floor.

"I'll see you soon." Dave said, Reid didn't watch him leave as he exhaled nervously through gritted teeth, the nurse directed his attention to the pills and he took them reluctantly slowly standing as she held the side of his shirt. Rossi was still in the hallway as Reid was being led to Winter's office, a young red head was hovering around the nurses' station as Winter's opened the door to his office it was heavy and Rossi noted an odd look on the doctors face as he opened the door. He put a hand on Reid's shoulder who shrugged it away and entered the room, as the door closed Rossi caught a glimpse of Spencer staring back at him expectedly and he knew… something was up.

-CM-

Foyet ditched the company truck in an underground parking lot, he threw the keys in a dumpster a few blocks later and ditched the hat and jacket in other places along the way to his hotel. He'd paid for the room to be rented for two months so he wasn't at all worried. He recovered the key from above the door frame where he had left it and opened the door. The room smelled like old blood, he had made a note to tell the manager he didn't want his room cleaned and the manager didn't seem to mind, he took the extra cash Foyet provided and pocketed it without a word.

George immediately took off his shirt and threw off the shoes he had been given. He looked at himself across the room; he could see his reflection in the bathroom mirror. Slowly he walked towards it, he pressed his hand against the gauze that covered his bullet wound it had been cleaned and dressed the same day Aaron had shot him in Reid's apartment… Reid. Foyet shook his head as he gathered some of his belongings from around the room and shoved them into a duffle bag. He put on a new shirt even though it smelled a bit, and looked about the room to make sure he had taken everything. When he was satisfied he put on a pair of boots and locked the door behind him.

Foyet wasn't worried about the BAU finding him but he knew he had to move and go find his car; he had stored it in an abandoned junk yard under a heavy tarp and hoped it was still there. He jogged through the alley and made his way down into the ditch to follow the train tracks that would take him to the junk yard, it was a ways to walk but he knew he had been careful and once he could get his computer out of the trunk he would be sure to put it to good use.

-CM-

Garcia had been waiting outside in the car, spinning a large ring on her finger as she eagerly awaited Rossi's return. She was startled as he opened the door and got in.

"What happened?" she blurted out and Rossi put up his hand to calm her

"You were right to worry." Garcia wrung her hands in her lap

"He didn't say anything but there is something wrong, I can tell." Garcia hummed nervously as she looked up at the building.

"What are we gonna do?" she asked still staring up at the windows, Rossi sighed putting his hands on the steering wheel

"I have no idea."

Reid groaned as Winter's raked his finger nails over his back. He sat rigidly in his chair while Winter's moved his hand over his bare flesh.

He had been alerted that a request had been put in to have Reid transferred from his care, and it didn't sit well with him. Reid hadn't denied it but he hadn't spoken either. Winter's had in turn pulled up Spencer's shirt and held him tightly under the chin as he ran his finger nails over his bare back. Reid closed his eyes tightly as he felt Winter's probe his flesh and scrape his nails along his side.

"You're not getting away from me pretty boy." He said against Spencer's cheek, Reid tried to turn his face away as Winter's licked his face, his tongue was warm and his breath was foul.

He tried to fixate on Rossi and Garcia, they had to be trying to help him. He hoped against hope that they could, he turned his neck against Winter's hand as the doctor snaked his way down his chest and in-between his legs. Winter's held his head to the side as he massaged Reid through his pants. It sickened Spencer and he pushed Winter's hand away only to feel the grip tighten around his neck, his breath quickened as he put his hands on the arm rests again.

Winter's stood up then and wrenched Reid's arms behind the chair, once again Reid heard the sound of the tie come undone and he turned only to have his head pressed down hard against the desk, an all too familiar feeling. Winter's looped the tie behind the chair and tied Reid's hands tightly, there was pressure in his shoulders but the soft fabric didn't burn at his wrists like a rope would have.

As Winter's pulled it tight Reid was forced back into a seated position. Winter's grunted as he pulled the tie tighter against the back of the chair. Reid just stared at him as he rounded the desk and sat in his chair. His stomach felt sick and his shoulders ached but he didn't let it show.

"Now let's have a nice chat." Winter's said crossing his legs and placing them on the desk, Reid turned his wrist against the bindings; there was no place for him to go.

"You want to leave don't you?" Reid looked to the curtains that were shut but said nothing Winter's grinned as he rolled the back of a pen between his teeth.

"You remind me of someone." He said as he stood up and began to walk around the desk

"His name was Jeremy; he was a strong young man… like you. It took some time but eventually I broke him. They always break you see." Reid's eyes fell on the letter opener that sat on the desk.

"You remind me of someone too." he remarked, Winter's was intrigued by the response. Reid continued to move his wrists and the doctor watched this.

"His name was Tobias…" Reid's knuckles were white and his hands red with blood that filled them as he moved his wrists as best he could. Winter's knelt next to Reid and their eyes met.

"I killed him." Winter's wore a smug grin as the words escaped Reid's lips, he saw the disgust on his face and the anger that burned behind his eyes.

"Are you threatening me Spencer?" he asked quite amused by the former agent's confession. Reid didn't answer as Winter's got to his feet and turned the chair sharply. Reid glared at him as he knelt down putting a hand on either one of Reid's knees pushing his legs open.

"I'll break you before you can even try to imagine a way to kill me." The words were like poison in Spencer's ears, as he watched Winter's move his hand up his thigh and between his legs once more. He turned away and shifted in his seat under the doctor's touch. His eyes straining open and closed as fingers converged around him, and he held back his tears as the doctor's head descended.

-CM-

George started his car after a third try to turn the motor over, finally it sprang to life. He quickly decided against going to Reid's apartment knowing full well Morgan or Prentiss might be there at some point, even though he was aware Reid wasn't there it was a probable location for him to frequent. He opened his laptop in the passenger seat as the heat began to fog the windows inside the car, he could still see his breath. He typed furiously searching for the hospital Reid may be in, Virginia had quite a few Mental health centres, so he then focused his efforts on the reporter he had heard broke the story about Spencer, he had seen the front page of the enquirer while he was in the holding cell, the guard had it open and was reading it giving Foyet full view of the front page where the headline stated "FBI agent allies with Boston Reaper?" after a few moments he found the article and the author of said article and pulled out of the junk yard. He had an impromptu meeting to attend to.

-CM-

Reid relaxed his shoulders as Winter's undid the bindings that tied him tightly to the chair. He opened his hands and closed them again feeling the numbness of blood returning to his arms. He rubbed his wrists as Winter's walked around the chair and rolled the tie in his hands placing it on the desk. Within seconds he had to lunge forward and grab hold of Reid's wrist who had instantly grabbed for the letter opener. They struggled Reid still seated and Winter's above him, seeing as his arms were quite weak still this hadn't been a good choice, Winter's knocked the chair back with little effort pulling the blade away from Spencer's grasp.

"You can't beat me boy." He said putting the letter opener back on the desk, Reid rolled out of the chair and to his knees

"You won't touch me again." He said between breaths, Winter's lips spread into a vindictive smile.

"And who'll be the one to stop me? You?" Reid stared back at him with repulsion one hand on the floor steadying himself as she tried to stand, his arms were still too weak to push him to his feet. He moved backwards across the floor as Winter's approached him.

"Spencer..." he said cautiously as Reid backed against the wall

"I don't want to have to silence you… don't force my hand." Reid's eyes were wide as Winter's stared back at him, hands at his sides as he slowly approached. They were interrupted suddenly by a heavy knock at the door. Reid looked to it as did Winter's unexpectedly.

"Get up." He commanded Reid who shook his head and stayed where he was; Winter's looked around desperately as the knocking continued.

"I said get up damn you." Reid narrowed his eyes as he slowly rose back against the wall

"Don't you move." Winter's stated walking towards the door he opened it and was greeted by two officers who immediately stepped inside.

"What is the meaning of this?" Winter's demanded to know, the officers grabbed hold of Reid who was unsure of what to do but he moved with them as they forcibly removed him from the room much to Winter's dissatisfaction.

A nurse handed him a piece of paper and he read it aloud.

"Dr. Spencer Reid is being removed from your care; he will be transferred from this facilities care within the hour." Winter's crumpled the paper and shoved it at the nurse as he followed down the hall to where the officers had taken Spencer.

Reid stumbled into his room as they closed the door behind him, he had no idea what was going on.

Winter's was met by an officer who stood at the nurses' station, alongside him was David Rossi.

"What is the meaning of this?" Winter's demanded to know.

"Spencer Reid is under my care, I demand to know what right you have to take him from me." It was a poor choice of words and Rossi noted it

"Dr. Winters, we have reason to believe your facility is not meeting the… specific needs of Dr. Reid." Winters knit his brow at the words.

"I've done nothing wrong, why would you accuse me of such things?" he demanded to know, Rossi shifted to reveal Garcia standing next to a young redheaded girl. It was Victoria.

"Vicky?" Winter's exclaimed clearly confused, Victoria glared at him.

"We researched your facility and you had some… unexplained suicides under your watch." Winter's looked from Victoria back to Rossi.

"This is mental health centre, accidents happen." Victoria looked at Penelope who looked back at Rossi.

"Accidents?" he asked, Winter's nodded

"Of course, we can't save every lost soul that enters here." Garcia held her hands tight around Victoria's shoulders who put a hand up to squeeze hers.

"I demand to know what you are doing with my patients!" Winter's bellowed

"You killed Markus!" Victoria yelled suddenly, Winter's was taken aback as Victoria began to sob.

"Jeremy told me so, he told me what you did to him…" she cried, Winter's chuckled

"You believe what your hearing? This girls a schizophrenic she's been in our facility for three years now!" Victoria glared at him

"He told me so!" she yelled, Garcia looked at Rossi

"Any witness to a crime is still a witness." He said frankly, Winter's shook his head

"You can't be serious?!" he stammered.

"I'm always serious Dr. Winter's." the doctor growled as he looked back at Victoria

"You little bitch!" he spat his words at her, "What did you tell them?!" before Garcia could hold her back Victoria lunged forward and struck Winter's hard in the throat with a closed fist. Rossi pulled her away but she began screaming uncontrollably, Winter's gasped upon feeling something warm and metal sticking out of his neck. It was a nail. The nurse screamed as Victoria ran against Winter's again knocking him down, she pounded on his chest screaming murderer at the top of her lungs, Winter's pulled the nail out and held his throat as blood spurted from the wound. The nurse inside the booth slammed her hand down on a panic button as two orderly's came around from the rec room, they pulled Victoria off of Winter's kicking and screaming and biting at them as she yelled obscenities at the doctor.

Rossi knelt next to him and held his hand over the doctors trying to slow the blood flow.

"Call an ambulance!" he yelled, Garcia dialed 911 even though a nurse was already at Winter's side trying also to stop the flow of blood that ran down between his fingers. The chaos around him became white noise as Rossi stood, patients were slamming their hands on the windows of their rooms, and other were yelling from the rec room's glass wall that separated them from the scene. Rossi turned and saw Reid staring out of the window from his room only a moment before he disappeared into the darkness of the room.

What had they done?

-CM-

Outside the ambulance arrived and Winter's was rushed away to the hospital. Reid sat on his bed staring at the nail he had pulled from the mattress fabric, he rolled it around between his fingers feeling the sharp point against his palm, he had watched Victoria stab Winter's in the throat and wondered if she had left the nail for him to commit the very act she had stolen from him. He hadn't gotten the chance to talk to her about her secret revelation that she knew how to escape the hospital… if that was true at all. But she had given him a weapon and she had escaped her room late that one night… was their truth to her story? Reid pushed the nail into the waist band of his pants as the door unlocked.

"Spencer?" it was one of the nurses she entered slowly carrying a tray of food.

"I'm not hungry thank you." He said looking at her, she smiled at him clearly she had been crying, the scene that had unfolded before the nurses' station was still being handled outside the room, Reid could hear the cries of distraught patients echo in the halls.

"Is she alright?" the nurse looked at him quizzically

"Victoria?" he clarified; the nurse wiped her eyes on the back of her hand

"She's in the quiet room now." She said

"Could I talk to her?" the nurse was perturbed by the request

"I don't think…"

"Please." Reid asked, the nurse looked around the room even though no one was there and she nodded hesitantly

"Only for a moment." She said and extended a hand to Reid, she took him by the arm leading him down the hall and around the corner away from the chaos. He hadn't seen Rossi or Garcia and he wondered where they had ended up, probably in trouble for whatever they had started that caused Victoria to snap on Winter's like she had.

"I'll give you two minutes." She said opening the quiet room door, Victoria was lying on the floor underneath a plank that stuck out from the wall, the light that intruded the room stung at her eyes. Reid quickly stepped in as the nurse closed the door and stood against it, why she was choosing to help him he had no idea. It was a gamble on her part to be sure.

Reid knelt down wincing slightly as he did so, the light had left the room once more and his eyes hadn't focused. Before he knew it cold hands took hold of his face and he felt Victoria's lips on his. Reid took her by the shoulders and pulled her back.

"Victoria." He said catching his breath, her hands were wet with what he guessed was Winter's blood.

"I've saved you." She said softly, Reid strained his eyes to see her but couldn't in the darkness that enveloped the room

"How did you know?" he asked, she pressed her head against his.

"They tell me things." She sobbed, "Jeremy, Markus… and Vincent. I know what he did to them… and they stayed here with me. I didn't want you to ache the way they do inside my chest." Reid had no idea who she was speaking about but figured they were people Winter's had also… abused under his care.

"You have to get out now." She said in a whisper, "I can't save you again…" she said her hands groping at Reid's face.

"He will be back… he always comes back…" Reid held her for a moment and she nuzzled against him he heard a tap at the door and let her go.

"Go…" she said as the door opened, Reid stood and exited the room, sharing one last glance with her as the door closed behind him. The nurse instantly pulled a cloth from her front pocket and wiped Reid's face.

"I could lose my job for this!" she said stuffing the cloth back into her pocket. Reid smiled at her warmly

"Thank you…" he said she rolled her eyes.

"Vicky took it hard when those boys died, she fancies you I could tell from the moment she laid eyes on you." Reid rubbed his elbow as he looked around

"I'm sure it did her good to talk to you." The nurse mused; she frowned as she looked back at the quiet room door.

"A lot of good it'll do her now though…" Reid exhaled deeply as the nurse met eyes with him again.

"We have to get you ready for a transfer." She said wringing her hands; Reid met her words with confusion.

"I don't know anything more than that." She said and took Reid by the wrist

"Come on now, back to your room."


	6. Stuck

An hour before the incident Rossi and Garcia had decided to go back in and see if they could speak to this Dr. Winter's. The nurse informed them that the doctor was with a patient at the moment and they would have to wait. Garcia sat on the bench across from the nurses' station straightening her skirt while Rossi paced back and forth thinking of what he would say when that heavy door opened.

"Vicky, why don't you go in the rec room?" the nurse said, Rossi turned to see a red haired girl by the nurses' station she was looking at her reflection in the glass.

"I'm waiting for Spencer." She said putting a strand of hair behind her ear, the nurse smiled at her.

"Well don't get into trouble and be quiet if you're going to be out here." Victoria nodded and shook her hair from side to side watching it move in the reflection of the glass, Rossi slowly sauntered over to her she noticed before he got to her and she darted past him with a giggle. Dave turned as she skipped down the hall then stood across from Winter's office with her hands behind her back staring at the door. Again Rossi walked over to her.

"Are you a friend of Spencer's?" he asked, Victoria nodded enthusiastically.

"He's the new Jeremy…" she said, her features changed from one of happiness to instant sadness. Rossi studied her face and she tried to smile again.

"I need to be here so he knows he's not alone." She said quietly, putting a finger to her lips to signal it was a secret. Rossi was unsure of what she was talking about.

"Who's Jeremy?" he asked kneeling down next to Victoria as she sat down against the wall. She fidgeted with her fingers

"Jeremy was the new Markus because Vincent died." Rossi looked at Garcia who had been listening to the conversation quietly.

"What happened to Jeremy?" Rossi asked gently, Victoria's eyes widened as if she had been struck with a terrible fear, she stared across the hall at the door.

"Shh he'll hear you." She said in a hiss. Rossi knit his brow trying to make sense of the girl's words

"He'll break him, and then Jeremy will be forgotten…" Rossi wrung his hands and looked towards the door; Victoria looked at him still wide eyed without blinking.

"He killed Markus, Jeremy told me… Jeremy told me Markus wouldn't break so he killed him." Garcia stood up and walked over to Rossi which startled Victoria who scooted away from the two.

"It's ok." Rossi assured her, putting his hands up. The nurse in the booth craned her neck to see what was going on, she stood a moment.

"Everything alright?" she called out, Rossi nodded and Victoria smiled strangely at her as the nurse sat back down.

"What's your name?" Dave asked still kneeling on the floor; Victoria blushed and put her hands in front of her face

"Vic-toria." She said clapping her hands.

"That's a lovely name." Rossi said Garcia nodded.

"Can you tell me more about Jeremy Victoria? What happened to him?" she slowly scooted forward until she was sitting a few inches from Rossi's face.

"They said it was an accident… but it wasn't" Garcia knelt next to Rossi and whispered in his ear.

"She knows the names of the boys who died in this hospital." Rossi nodded

"Did someone hurt Jeremy?" Victoria shushed Dave with her hand

"He'll hear you." She said looking towards Winter's door again. Rossi was getting the strangest feeling now and it creeped up his spine filling him with a sense of dread. Victoria leaned close to Dave's face and whispered so quietly it was barely audible.

"Spencer is the new Jeremy…"

-CM-

"Do you have any idea what you were doing?" Aaron demanded to know, Penelope sat in her chair biting her lip as Dave tried to explain

"Something has been going on in this hospital; we couldn't just stand by and do nothing." Aaron paced in front of them; they were downstairs in one of the health centres empty offices.

"So we gambled, I called in some officers to help us and things got out of hand." Aaron clenched his fists

"That girl stabbed a man in the throat Dave, that's a little more than out of hand!" Rossi threw up his hands in defeat

"What were you thinking?" Hotch demanded "As if we don't have enough issues right now."

"But sir-"

"I wasn't talking to you!" Hotch yelled cutting Garcia off; she pulled in her lip clearly taken aback by the sudden outburst. Hotch put his hands up trying to calm the situation before sitting down at the desk rubbing his temples.

"Do we have proof of negligence?" he asked not looking up

"We have the three supposed suicides and Victoria's confession." Hotch sighed

"She's not a credible witness Dave." Garcia looked to Rossi who seemed as defeated as she was

"Schizophrenic or not Hotch that doctor has bad news written all over him." Aaron looked up from his hands. Rossi's face hardened at the realization… they were going to have to talk to Spencer.

-CM-

Reid sat on the floor in the corner of his room waiting… for what he wasn't even sure. The minutes seemed to pass like hours and hours like days, he had no idea how long he had been sitting there until the door unlocked once more.

It was JJ… and seeing her formed a lump in his throat. She seemed to feel the same way as she entered the dimly lit room and made her way over to the bed sitting down on it and staring at her hands.

"Quite a mess out there Spence." Reid nodded against the wall as she continued to stare into her hands.

"Dr. Winter's has been stabilized…" she said looking to Reid for a reaction, he looked away from her. Which spoke volumes.

"Did… are you…" she struggled with her words, the team had asked her to speak to Reid since she had been the only one who'd kept her nose out of everything. His relationship with George, the case against Foyet and even Reid being institutionalized… but seeing him here like this was far from easy.

"Did Winter's hurt you?" the words finally formed and Reid only closed his eyes and exhaled deeply upon hearing them.

"The girl who attacked him… she can't be used as a witness to the previous crimes she claims were committed against those dead boys… unless you can corroborate her story as the truth." Reid bit his bottom lip, but didn't answer. JJ could see the conflict in Reid she got off the bed and came to sit next to him on the floor.

"Spence?" she patted his arm softly, and felt him trembling, his eyes were pressed so tightly together the tears that begged to flow freely from them dropped from his cheeks like marbled glass. JJ rubbed Reid's arm.

"It's ok…" she said softly, "It's gonna be ok." Reid suddenly turned and hugged close to her, sobbing softly into her shoulder. JJ felt herself well up but held it in as she wrapped her arms around her young friend and rocked him gently.

"We'll get you out of here." She said, "I promise."

-CM-

George had followed the reporter from the Enquirer who obviously was still pursuing the story, fortunately for Foyet no images of him had been released so his identity from the public was still safe. The public officials in Virginia and also the head of Boston P.D. refused to have Foyet's mug shots published, the last thing they needed was a witch hunt when Boston was trying to recover from the Reaper's reign of terror. The whole thing was a mess of ego's which was greatly amusing to Foyet; he followed from a distance as the reporter got on a bus and they ended up at the hospital. Unsure of what to expect Foyet kept following. He made a detour upon hearing where the reporter was going and ducked into an employee bathroom, fortunately there were some used scrubs hanging up which he put on over his clothes, grabbing a white doctors coat from the back of a chair and heading up to the second floor where the enquirer reporter had been directed to.

It was strange how he could blend in with everyone just by donning a random uniform, he picked up a clip board and flipped through it as the reporter came through the door where the stairs were, he pretended not to watch him as he skipped through the patient file on the board. He put it down and followed as the reporter turned the corner and went into one of the rooms, there were a number of beds that were sectioned off by curtains, it was a recovery room of sorts, the hospital must have been full that day because the room was packed. Foyet strode into the curtained room next to the one the reporter went into. Lucky for him it was an elderly patient who was asleep; he stood in the room and pretended to check things as he listened to the conversation through the curtain.

"Who are you?" came a raspy voice

"Sir I'm Kyle Maxwell, I work for the Enquirer I was wondering if I could ask you some questions." There was a sound of hesitation

"What kind of questions?" the reporter sat down on the end of the bed.

"You are the doctor treating Dr. Spencer Reid are you not?" George turned at the name

"I was until this happened." Maxwell chuckled

"Job perks am I right?" the man didn't respond to the crack, and Maxwell cleared his throat.

"Anyways, Dr. Winters? Am I right, anyways… I have a source who was gracious enough to inform me of your terrible accident, and I was wondering if you would be up to answer a few questions on a story I'm working."

Winter's tried to laugh but he groaned instead.

"You're the one who wrote the Reaper story are you?" Maxwell must have nodded

"I don't know anything about the little prat's involvement but I wouldn't put it past him." George listened to the sound of a pen scratching on paper

"Uh huh, so was anything ever revealed to you about the case? Or is that… doctor patient confidentiality?" Winter's smirked

"You want me to incriminate the little bastard?" Maxwell hummed a sound of delight

"I'm all ears Doctor." Foyet clenched his fists, the conversation went on for a few more minutes, Winter's stating it had been Reid who set off the girl who attacked him, he'd apparently threated him with the idea that the Reaper may kill again if he wasn't released, and that he would escape if he was ever convicted. Maxwell scribbled down as much as he could until Winter's seemed to tire, he thanked the mad doctor and took his leave. Foyet walked out from behind the curtains and watched Maxwell exit the room, he'd gotten much more information than he had bargained for… and in an instant his emotions took over and he turned towards Winter's curtained room.

"How are you feeling?" Winter's opened his eyes to see a doctor staring back at him through part of the open curtain. He turned his head from side to side

"Are you experiencing any discomfort?" Foyet asked him walking over to the bedside to look at the IV drip.

"My throat is quite sore, but otherwise I'm alright." Foyet grinned and nodded as he looked at the IV. On the table next to him was a syringe, a bottle of morphine and a few other items. He noted them as he turned back to Winter's.

"Guess a nail in the throat would cause that kind of problem." He said sarcastically, Winter's looked at him slightly confused.

"I beg your pardon?" Foyet uncoiled the nurse call button from the bedside and threw it behind the bed, it clattered to the floor and Winter's looked around clearly unsure of what was happening.

"You know I thought I had a twisted imagination." Foyet said putting on a pair of gloves; Winter's was getting quite uncomfortable now as he groped the sides of the bed for the call button.

"What did he do to you anyways?" Winter's looked to Foyet

"Who are you?" he asked perplexed, Foyet gave him a smug look

"I thought Spencer told you that already." Winter's eyes widened, as Foyet lifted up the needle and pulled back the plunger filling it with air.

"I can imagine his intellect may have put you off, and maybe even knowing a thing or two about… his history with unmentionable peoples." Winter's knit his brow as he listened

"But what did you do? What did he do that pissed you off enough to lie?" Winter's didn't say anything and Foyet leaned forward grabbing the man by the face.

"What did you do to him?" the look in Winter's eyes spoke to George like an open book and the rage that filled his heart could not be quelled. He put a strong hand over Winter's mouth and pushed the needle into the IV, making one perfect bubble of air. Winter's pulled at George's hands but couldn't release himself from his grasp.

"You're lucky I'm gonna kill you this way, because if I had my own way…" Foyet licked his lips as he looked down at Winter's

"Let's just say… they'd need a shovel to pick up all the pieces." The air bubble circled through the tube and entered the needle placed in Winter's arm. His body began to spasm and George set the needle next to him.

"Get someone in here he's coding!" he yelled, a nurse came around the corner along with other hospital staff who threw open the curtain. Winter's throat began to bleed again as he grasped at it and he choked on the blood that filled his throat. Foyet slowly backed away as the doctors and nurses tried to assess the issue, the heart monitor fluctuated and a crash cart was wheeled in. Foyet backed out of the room and went down the stairs, he stripped off the scrubs as he made his way down, as he stepped out he threw them into a nearby laundry cart. He plucked a coat off the rack by the door and stepped out into the snow just to see Maxwell pull away in a cab…

"Well one down..." he said to himself and hurried across the street.

-CM-

Reid fidgeted with the end of his shirt as he stood in Winter's office looking out the window. He wasn't thrilled to be in this room again, but was told to wait there until further notice, he must have gained some trust since he was being allowed in this room alone, there were plenty of pointy things he could hurt himself with as the hospital had pointed out but his former team mates trusted him, he rubbed his eyes as he looked out the window the sky was a chalk white with wisps of grey painted through it, the wind had subsided and the bare trees were still.

Reid turned as the door opened and Morgan stepped inside, he immediately turned back to the window when their eyes met. He knew Morgan hadn't been on his side since Hotch had decided to pursue the case against Foyet… he didn't know why that bothered him.

"Hey kid." Derek said hands in his pockets as he walked aimlessly around the room; he looked down at the floor where a chair was overturned. They hadn't touched anything in the room which made him wonder what had transpired behind closed doors.

"What are you here for?" Reid asked, watching cars drive by on the streets past the large fence that gated in the hospital grounds.

"Garcia and Rossi are fixing to get you out of here." Reid sighed

"They said that Winter's seemed like a shady character." Reid crossed his arms in front of his chest.

"Why? Because he rapes and then drives his male patients to suicide?" the words caught Morgan off guard.

"Did something happen I should know about?"

"Does it matter?"

Morgan watched Reid shift from foot to foot as he looked out the window; he was clearly in some kind of pain. He walked up to the desk and noticed a man's tie rolled up sitting on the edge, and a letter opener sitting in the middle of a stack of papers.

"What's going to happen to Victoria?" Derek looked up; he rubbed the back of his neck as he made his way to the window

"I don't know, probably be transferred to a higher security facility." Reid shifted his eyes from the street to the multitude of cars parked out front, two police cruisers and more than one of the BAU's SUV's.

"Reid it's gonna be ok." Spencer turned away from the window and walked to the middle of the room

"Why does everyone keep saying that?" he said annoyed looking down at the over turned chair, he knelt down with some effort and placed it back on four legs.

"You ok?" Derek asked making his way closer to his young friend.

"If I say yes will you leave me alone?" Derek pursed his lips

"Reid I feel for your situation but things are not that simple."

"Aren't they?" Derek pulled in his lip as Reid looked down at the chair; he rested his hands on the back of it

"There are good people and there are bad people Reid… we don't always know who the bad guys are…"

Reid grinned a moment but it faded

"I wish it were that easy Morgan…" Derek rubbed the back of his head and slapped the side of his leg

"What then? It's ok because you loved him? Is that it?" Reid didn't look up

"George Foyet is a murderer Reid! The way you feel about him doesn't change what he is." Reid clenched his fists around the fabric on the back of the chair.

"Are you done?" Derek put his hands on his hips in frustration

"Are you?" their eyes met but were broken from each other as the door opened and Hotch stepped in. he motioned for Morgan to leave who did so with a sigh before he closed the door behind him. Reid just stared at Aaron; they hadn't been in the same room since Hotch had shot Foyet in the apartment some time ago.

"Winter's is dead." Reid's eyes faltered from Aaron's for a moment before he looked back at him, his expression was hard

"How?" Hotch crossed his arms

"We're waiting for the autopsy but they suspect a pulmonary edema…" Reid gave a slight nod

"So…?" Hotch looked at him unsure of what to say

"What now?" Aaron looked towards the window as if contemplating his words.

"We wait for a transfer to be approved, go from there." Reid sighed

"So I'm stuck is that what you're saying?" Hotch looked at his feet before turning his attention back to Spencer.

"You had a nervous breakdown Spencer, nobody blames you for that. Your health should be your main priority now, let us deal with everything else." Reid rolled his eyes, and Hotch could feel the tension in the room.

"We'll be in contact with you as soon as the transfer comes through, just hold tight for now." With that he opened the door and left Reid standing in the room of a dead man. Were things ever going to be like they were? He walked over to the window once more and stared at the world outside, all that separated him from that world was a pane of glass, yet it felt so far out of reach and then a thought struck Spencer that he never thought he would have to imagine, he fingered the nail in his waist band and looked back at Winter's desk, walking over to it he picked up two paper clips and tucked them into the side of his pants as well.

"Spencer." He turned to see a nurse standing in the doorway and he knew he was being sent back to his room, sighing he left the room passing by his former team mates who watched him being taken by the arm to the tiny white room. The nurse closed the door behind her and smiled through the window as she made her way back down the hall. Reid pulled the nail and paper clips out and looked them over in his hand… things were definitely going to get hard from here on in.


	7. Criminals

George cracked his knuckles, his fists were sore and his throat was getting dry, he walked over to the sink and got a glass of water.

"Please… please I'll do anything just don't kill me." Foyet turned to Maxwell who sat huddled in the corner of his living room, his lip cut, nose bleeding and hands shaking as he held them up.

"I didn't come here to kill you." Foyet explained as he walked back towards Maxwell who flinched and held himself in the corner, Foyet held up a knife he had picked up from the kitchen. Maxwell had a small apartment with nothing out of the ordinary for a nosey bachelor. His dog sat next to George who patted the lab on the head.

"Some guard dog." He said, Maxwell shrugged as the black lab panted happily wagging its tail as Foyet scratched behind its ears.

"So what do you want then?" Foyet put the knife down on the coffee table and crouched near Maxwell who seemed to try and get even closer to the corner.

"I want you to print the truth about the Reaper." To this Maxwell was confused,

"Wha..?" he whimpered as Foyet slapped him in the head

"Stay with me now you rotten little liar." Maxwell cringed and closed his eyes once again starting to make whiney crying noises, Foyet groaned

"Don't start." He said poking Maxwell in the knee, who shuddered at the touch

"Who are you anyways?" he stammered, Foyet stood up and patted the dog that followed him into the kitchen, Maxwell looked from the knife on the coffee table to Foyet whose back was turned.

"I'm a crusader of Justice." He said taking a thawed steak out of the fridge and throwing it on the floor, the dog chomped on it immediately. Maxwell slowly inched forward, daring to reach the knife.

"Don't even try it." Foyet said still looking through the fridge. Maxwell held in his breath as he looked towards the kitchen, Foyet pulled out a beer from the fridge and knocked it against the counter loudly popping the cap off. The sound made Maxwell jump and he inched back to his corner.

Foyet took a long swig of the beer before coming back into the room and picking up the knife, he pulled up his shirt to reveal a revolver tucked into his pants.

"I don't think you'd win." He said putting his shirt back down and taking another drink. Maxwell exhaled a shaky breath

"Ok… so…" Foyet sat on the coffee table holding the knife in one hand and the neck of the beer in the other.

"So you're not going to print that bullshit story Winter's told you." The frightened reporter looked at Foyet unsure of how he knew of the secret conversation he'd had only a few hours ago.

"How do you.." Foyet tapped the side of his head with the knife

"Psychic." He said taking another drink of the beer. Maxwell wasn't so amused with that answer

"So what do you want?" Foyet swallowed and put the beer down on the table pointing the knife at Maxwell.

"The Reaper is dead, Boston P.D. says so. End of story." Maxwell slowly crossed his arms over his body.

"Then.." he thought a moment to choose his words carefully

"What of Dr. Reid's involvement?" Foyet stabbed the knife into the coffee table.

"The Reaper is dead." He said picking up the bottle again, "There is no story." Maxwell nodded wiping his nose on the back of his sleeve. Foyet downed the rest of the beer and held the neck in his hands.

"We have an understanding then?" Maxwell nodded, and Foyet grinned

"Good then." He smashed the bottle on the edge of the table, making the dog bark and Maxwell cover his head.

"I'd hate to come back and have another chat with you." Maxwell had his eyes shut tight and he nodded profusely

"Ok Ok I get it, no Reaper story!" he said holding his hands in front of his face. Foyet threw the broken bottle on the floor and knelt in front of the terrified reporter, who squinted his eyes at George.

He pushed Maxwell's head against the wall once and stood up; he patted the dog on the head and walked out the front door. Leaving Kyle Maxwell in a shambles huddled in the corner of his living room, his dog came over and licked his hand to which Kyle pushed the mutt away and cursed under his breath.

-CM-

Reid groaned as he tried to turn the door handle again but it didn't move, he'd been raking the lock with his bent paper clip for what seemed an eternity. He could hear some of the pins lining up with the door and other falling back and out of place. He struggled to figure out how Victoria had mastered this skill, although she had three years on him to familiarize herself with the locks. Reid cursed as the paper clip bent and he had to pull it out of the lock again, he decided to bind the two clips together and try some more. He had been told he's been assigned a new doctor and they had tried to give him a form of sleep aid which he threw up after the nurse left the room. None of his former team mates wanted to help him get out of this hell hole and he had no idea where George was, he listened intently to the pinging noises inside the door and suddenly heard a loud clonk, he turned the paper clips and watched as the knob turned and the door finally opened. Slowly Reid pushed himself against the side of the wall and peered out the tiny window… no one was around.

Something that was strange to him was there were no cameras in the hallways; the facility was older but no cameras? He supposed that was to hide unmentionable deeds by certain doctors and for a moment he felt sick to his stomach he put that aside as he opened the door ever so slowly and closed it behind him. Now that he was in the hall how was he going to get out of the hospital? A thought dawned on him and against his better judgement he stalked his way down the hall towards the quiet room, the door had deadbolt on the outside of it, strange that it was the only lock. Very gently he turned it holding in his breath as the lock clonked inside the door and it opened as a tiny wedge of light seared into the room Reid could see Victoria sitting cross legged squinting up at him, he extended his hand to her quickly and she took it. Now they were both standing in the hallway hiding inside the door frame of the quiet room. Victoria looked confused as Spencer turned to her

"How do I get out of here?" he whispered, an excited smile spread across her face and she grabbed hold of his hand tighter and looked around the corner before racing down the hall towards a wall vent. She put out her hand and Reid was unsure of what she wanted. She continued to hold her hand out and the only thing he could think of was the nail which he pulled out of his waist band and handed to her. She smiled showing her teeth now and proceeded to unscrew the cover of the ventilation system. Reid watched her fingers quickly take off the door to the vent. She pointed into it and nodded her head; it looked like a tight squeeze. Reid was startled as Vicky grabbed at his shoes and pulled them off along with his socks.

"Go straight this way." She said pointing right inside the vent "Then go left and the other vent comes off with pins." She handed him the nail again. "It's the laundry room, you can go straight downstairs from there and outside to where they put the garbage." Reid looked at her wondering how she knew this and she smiled.

"Jeremy tried to get out this way but got caught in the laundry room…" she looked into the vent. "He threw himself over the railing running away and broke his neck." She said it so flatly as if it were nothing; she looked back at him and smiled.

"What about you?" Reid asked, she stifled a laugh behind her hand and kissed Reid once on the nose before waving her hands at him to get into the vent.

"I have to wait for Santa Claus." She said smiling, Reid sighed and smiled back at her weakly he leaned over and gave her a kiss on the cheek to which she blushed furiously then he got on his stomach and pulled himself into the vent. He listened to the sound of Victoria putting the vent cover back on, the sound of the screws turning against the metal echoed through the vents. He was thankful there were sections of light where he could see whereabouts he was going. The metal bulged every so often as Reid snaked along on his stomach, he felt extremely claustrophobic as he finally reach a turn in the vent and with more effort than he thought it would be he turned to the left and pulled himself along, Victoria had been right to take off his socks, his feet sweat and it helped stick against the metal which made it easier to push himself along finally he could heard the persistent droning noise of dryers spinning, the metal was getting hot and he moved along faster as he felt a rush of warm air against his feet.

An orderly folded towels into a rolling bin near the vent, Reid held in his breath as the vent got warmer and warmer and he felt as if he were becoming stuck to the inside of the ventilation shaft, minutes passed and the orderly finally left the room. Reid fumble with the pins that held in the vent cover until finally it popped off, he put a hand on either side of the opening and pulled himself out, he gasped as the cool air hit his face and he put his hot feet down on the concrete floor. He'd have to hurry now. Slowly he stood up looking back wide eyed at sweaty feet prints he was creating on the floor. He looked around the room and noticed a bottle of bleach without giving it a second though he opened it and let it run over the floor then slowly he opened the door, there was no window on this one so he looked around cautiously. Indeed there was a door across from the laundry room that read basement access. From there he could get out. Reid looked around to make sure the coast was clear then lunged towards the door as if his life depended on it. Thankfully it wasn't locked and he was able to close it behind him quickly. As he did he heard footsteps in the hall, an orderly must have found his mess and then it occurred to him he had left the vent cover off… maybe they wouldn't suspect anything.

"Damn Raccoons!" came an annoyed voice, Reid released a relieved breath and began walking slowly down the cold stone steps. He walked past the furnace and many different pipes that were sweating and dripping in the very dark basement. At this point Reid wasn't sure where he was going to go, for one he now had no shoes or socks and it was winter. He shoved that aside as he searched for the door that led outside, the occasional blinking light illuminated the room enough for him to find his way along the wall to the garbage that was sitting in separated clear bags near a cellar like door. Reid tore open one of the bags that contained a torn blanket and a pair of shoes without laces, there were drops of blood on them but he didn't care. He put the blanket around himself and pushed on the cellar door… it didn't move.

Reid pushed it hard and heard the clanking of chains against it, he let the blanket down and pushed up as hard as he could just enough to see a crack of light and a chain that covered the door handles. He groaned as he let the doors close again and groped around for something to help him get out. He was suddenly interrupted though by the sound of the basement door opening, quickly he hid behind some piping and covered himself with the blanket, a burly man was singing to himself as he walked to the end of the room with flashlight in hand.

"Aw god damn it!" he said upon seeing the garbage bag ripped open, he groaned and retied the torn bag as best he could.

"Gonna get some damn rat traps this is bull shit." He mumbled, Reid listened to the sound of chains being withdrawn from the cellar door handles, another man opened the doors, he only knew it was a man because of the voice.

"Coons?" he asked putting out a hand, the other man nodded handing him one of the garbage bags.

"Yeah we better go out to the shed and get some traps before the health department crawls up our ass again." The other man chuckled

"Hey I'd be all for a weekend off for once." The burly man rolled his eyes

"Shut up and help me with these damn bags." Reid slowly removed the blanket from his head as he heard footsteps crunching in the snow away from the door; slowly he crept towards the door and dared to poke his head out. There was a light right above the doors that shone down into the open doorway, Reid looked to where the men had walked off to, they were heading to a shed near the opposite side of the building… it was now or never. Reid held the blanket tightly and ran for all he was worth losing one of the shoes in the process. He felt as if he were escaping from a prison and if he turned around the sirens would start and snipers might start shooting at him. He didn't stop to think about it for long as he reached the fence, he couldn't squeeze through the bars so he climbed it. Leaving the blanket on the other side of the gate, the top had black points on it and he scraped his side along them as he tumbled over the fence and landed on the sidewalk. Reid rubbed his elbow as he looked back at the building he had escaped from, he pulled the blanket from between the bars and wrapped it around himself, the cold of the packed snow seared the bottom of his foot as he walked down the sidewalk… Now what?


	8. On the Lam

George had stood outside Maxwell's apartment for a moment before walking through the back alley and cutting through someone's yard to get out of the neighborhood, it was snowing again. He decided it was high time he go and have a look at this health centre. He shoved his hands inside his stolen coat pockets as the wind began to blow, maybe he should have killed Maxwell… he couldn't believe the first day he had been released from jail he'd already gotten away with murder and threatening a man after breaking into his apartment. He was pushing his luck and he hoped right now it wouldn't run out too quickly. Finally he reached his car which he had parked a few blocks away.

At that same time Reid was holding the torn blanket around his head as he walked down the sidewalk.

"Very inconspicuous." He thought to himself, the health centre wasn't in the best area of town and Reid noticed a few homeless people huddled next to benches they shared and some burning barrels near the fence by the railroad tracks. Reid tried to establish where in Virginia he was, he couldn't be sure but he noticed a river that the train tracks went over and he decided to follow it until he could get his bearings. The wind had picked up and Reid clutched the blanket close to himself, his fingers were freezing and his foot burned from the cold, even though he had a shoe on the other one it didn't help much as there were no laces and every third step he had to curl in his toes just to hold the shoe from slipping off.

Reid stumbled along trying to keep his mind fixed by doing equations in his head, he thought of numbers aloud as he walked, and worked to solve them as he passed each street lamp. He hadn't failed to notice he was being followed from the other side of the street by some grizzly looking characters, an older man with a long beard, one who looked Hispanic followed close behind the old man and a heavier set man wearing a baseball hat trailed behind trying to keep pace with them. Reid attempted to ignore them as he continued, his body ached for him to stop and pick up his foot from the cold ground but he pressed on. The men crossed the street as a car slowly drove by. Reid stopped as he lost his other shoe and turned to pull it on the men were behind him now and catching up quickly. He shivered as they slowly approached him.

"You're new." The old man called out to him, Reid didn't move he shifted from foot to foot trying to alleviate the numbness that had crawled up his leg.

"You're not welcome here." The Hispanic man said, Reid tried to stop from shaking but it wasn't possible

"I'm leaving." He breathed, his words seemed to freeze in the air and he backed away slowly, dimly illuminated under the light of a street lamp.

"What you got under there?" the old man said pointing at the blanket, Reid looked down and shook his head

"Nothing." The larger man grunted as the old man exchanged a look with him.

"Show me." He said, Reid didn't know what to do

"It's freezing please-" the Hispanic man grabbed the top of the blanket and pulled it away from Reid who stumbled on the sidewalk holding himself as the bit of warmth he had was ripped away from him. The old man took the blanket from the other and handed it to the larger man.

"Nice clothes." The Hispanic said the old man nodded Reid turned away from them and looked down the sidewalk. There was nowhere to go and the snow whirled in the wind that shook him to his very core.

"Please leave me alone." He begged, he could barely stand any longer. The Hispanic looked at the old man who just gave a flick of his head in Reid's direction, with that the large man and the Hispanic came towards him and Reid fell back trying to escape their grasp. They pulled him up to his feet as the old man looked him over.

"Where'd you break out of?" he asked looking over the grey pants and white t-shirt. He looked down the street in the distance the lights of the mental health centre could still be seen. A car was approaching but it didn't seem to phase the homeless men.

"Bet their lookin' for you." Reid struggled against the two men but couldn't break away. The old man grabbed at the waistband of Reid's pants and tugged at them, Reid brought his frozen legs up and kicked at the man making the larger man tumble backwards, the Hispanic started punching Reid in the head as the old man got back on his feet.

"Teach you!" the old man said pulling a makeshift blade from his belt; Reid coughed blood as the old man stood over him. He gasped for air as the other men held him to the ground, the wind howled and suddenly there was a deafening noise. The Hispanic and the large man ducked their heads as the old man fell on his knees; he pawed at himself to check he was alright before turning around. Reid choked on the cold air as the large man backed off and ran across the street, the old man held his blade out and the Hispanic stood up. A car had stopped and a man was standing just out of the light of the street lamp, his headlights shining at the scene. The old man caught the glint of something and recoiled.

"Gun!" he said to his friend and they scrambled across the street out of sight. The man pocketed the gun and Reid shivered, the only warmth coming from the blood that dripped out of the corner of his mouth. He tried to focus his eyes on the man who approached him but it was difficult, his face stung from the blows and the cold. The man said nothing but pulled Reid to his feet and helped him over to the car where he lay him down in the back seat and put his jacket over top of him. He pushed Reid's legs into the car and closed the door behind him before getting into the driver's seat and pulled away from the sidewalk. The car was warm and the jacket was as well, Reid felt the burning sensation of the warmth tingle against his numb skin.

"Thank you." He uttered between bloody lips, the stranger looked back a moment before staring back at the road. Reid wasn't sure what he'd gotten himself into now but he was happy he had been 'rescued' if that's what he would call it, and that he was warm. They also hadn't turned around so he suspected it wasn't someone from the hospital. His teeth chattered and his body quivered as he pulled his legs up to his chest wrapping the jacket tighter around himself. He shut his eyes tight, they were sore and stung from the bruises he was sure he would have from the beating the homeless man laid on him. He shivered beneath the warmth of the jacket and found himself falling asleep to the steady rumble of the car's engine. Within moments he was out.

George adjusted the rear view mirror to stare into the back seat, Spencer was passed out cold. He'd only pulled into the street near the health centre when he'd noticed a scuffle, he would have overlooked it if the young man being accosted didn't look so much like Reid... until Foyet realised that was indeed who it was. All it took was that blanket being torn away, he barely got a glimpse but he sped up the street and turned the corner, he pulled up on the scene just as one of the homeless men pulled a blade, and did the first thing that came to mind. He shot into the air. Not exactly smart since there were apartments and businesses around, but it was a rough part of town, so it may have gone unnoticed.

Reid looked awful, he was thin and his face was bleeding, as was his side George had noticed upon seeing a red stain on the otherwise white t-shirt. They couldn't stay here, Foyet knew for a fact that Reid hadn't been discharged, not this late and night and not looking like this. He must have escaped which seemed so unlike him. Foyet wondered if he'd been a bad influence on Reid and he smiled to himself as he turned a corner past a large sign showing the number of miles to North Carolina. It was going to be a long drive.

-CM-

JJ sighed as she tapped some papers on the round table of the bullpen, she was usually first into work if Hotch wasn't there first. Right now she had a new case for the team but her mind was elsewhere.

"What's up buttercup?" JJ looked up as Garcia came into the room, Dave was behind her along with Derek and Emily who were talking amongst themselves as they both sipped at coffee's. Hotch hadn't showed up yet.

"New case?" Rossi asked sitting down, JJ gave a nod

"Can't chase our tails forever." She said, she looked back at the papers as Morgan gave her a look. She handed the files around the table to each of the team members.

"Are we done with the Reaper case?" JJ didn't answer Morgan as she made her way around the table and back to her chair opening the file.

"Jennifer?" she looked up slightly

"I wasn't aware there was a case." She said with distain looking back at the file. Emily sighed as she opened the file as well and skimmed over it.

"Where's Hotch?" Morgan asked still looking at JJ, she shrugged her shoulders.

"Are we working the Winter's case?" JJ flipped a page

"There isn't a case Morgan, he had some kind of heart failure internal affairs is dealing with the issue at the health centre." Derek looked at Emily who shrugged her shoulders.

"Let it go Morgan." Rossi said picking up the file and opened it in front of him. Morgan wasn't thrilled with Dave's words and his expression showed it.

"Let it go?" he said, Garcia sighed

"Oh boy."

"What do you mean let it go?" Dave slapped the file folder shut

"The Reaper case is over Derek, the judge dismissed Hotch's claim against Foyet, there was no hard proof to authenticate his suspicions so yeah… let it go." Derek crossed his arms as he sat back in the chair.

"You think that guys innocent?"

"If he's not we'll catch him soon enough for something else I'm sure." JJ commented still flipping through the file, Derek looked over at her

"Like what?" JJ was sorry she'd opened her mouth now. The team all looked at her when she didn't answer.

"What is it?" Emily asked, JJ screwed up her face contemplating her words.

"Reid's gone." Everyone turned at the words, Hotch stood in the doorway with his arms crossed. Garcia looked at JJ.

"What do you mean he's gone?" JJ looked back at Hotch who exited the room and headed towards his office.

"This morning he wasn't in his room… the staff aren't sure how or when he got out but… he's gone." Derek stood up almost knocking the chair back.

"Derek." JJ put her hand out to calm him but he left the room heading for Hotch's office. Emily gave a worried look to Garcia as Rossi left the room to head after Morgan. Derek was already yelling at Hotch who just rubbed his temples.

"What the fuck do you want me to do about it?!" Morgan moved back as Hotch lost it, the others came in just at that moment, Hotch continued to rub his temples visibly frustrated with the situation.

"We lost track of Foyet, Reid's escaped from the hospital and our case against the Reaper's been officially dropped, if we pursue it further the BAU will be in deep shit, I'm already taking heat for this Morgan what more can I tell you?" Derek put his hands on his hips and paced slightly

"I dunno Hotch… I really don't know." Hotch pulled in his lip as he looked up at the others who were crowded in the doorway.

"Is there anything we can do?" Hotch shrugged his shoulders as he combed his fingers through his hair.

"He's missing persons now, other than that…" Emily sighed deeply.

"We have to find him." Garcia said softly, Hotch looked up to see tears in her eyes; she was so casual with her emotions.

"Maybe he doesn't want to be found." Derek said looking down at the floor. Garcia opened her mouth but no words came out.

"He can't… he can't just do that! Can he?" Emily put a hand on Garcia's shoulder

"Anything could have happened to him." she exclaimed as she hugged against Prentiss who looked from Derek back to Hotch. Rossi looked at JJ who was also doing her best not to cry.

"So we do nothing?" he asked the group, no one had anything to say

"I know some bad things went down for Reid in the past while but… is there nothing we can do." Hotch tapped the edge of his desk

"I've already requested we be involved in searching for him, but the hospital doesn't want another investigation. Not after Winter's death, their already being looked into by internal affairs… wherever Reid is… hopefully… he decides to come back, until then here's not much we can do."

Garcia sobbed against Emily's shoulder, who rubbed her arm trying her best to compose her friend. Dave wrung his hands as he looked at Hotch who looked quite distraught about everything.

"Well…" Rossi turned to JJ, who swallowed hard.

"Life must go on." He said exiting the room, Emily slowly followed him with Garcia at her side wiping her eyes. JJ stood in the doorway still holding one of the file folder's she'd passed out in the bullpen. She looked to Hotch who gave a slight nod sighing as he got out of his chair. He put a hand on Morgan's shoulder who still had his arms crossed as he stared at the floor. It was true they had another case to work whether Reid was still in the hospital or not, it frustrated Morgan who hit the door frame as he too then followed behind Hotch and JJ to hear about the next case they would be working.

-CM-

It was blissfully warm underneath the blanket, there were the sounds of foreign birds singing in the air and the scent of eggs and toast filled up the room. Reid slowly opened his eyes; as he tried to get up a wet cloth fell from his forehead. His head was pounding and his mouth tastes gross, he stuck out his tongue a few times to reapply moisture to it. It wasn't until he propped himself up on one hand he realised he was in a bedroom. It was furnished nicely with floral curtains and the same floral patterned chairs that sat across the room. A large white dresser sat against the wall and a cherry colored door was half open near it. Reid sat up straighter, the bed was large and made of a blond colored wood, the blanket was white and had blue and yellow flowers patterned across it. He also noticed now he wasn't wearing any clothes and that began to worry him. He looked about the room but didn't see his clothes anywhere. He dangled his feet over the side of the bed and set them on a shaggy beige colored carpet, his feet were sore but the fabric felt nice against them. A grey bathrobe was slung over one of the chair arms; Reid picked it up and pulled it on.

As he looked at himself he saw his side had been bandaged, he hadn't even known he'd been hurt. Briefly he wondered if one of his kidneys might be missing and this was all just a bad dream. But the smell and prospect of food became more interesting suddenly as he made his way out of the room, there was a bathroom just outside of the bedroom and a nice sitting room with the same kind of old country feel to it, then a small kitchen where someone was flipping eggs over as toast popped out of a shiny silver toaster. Reid couldn't force himself to believe what he was seeing, George turned around suddenly noticing Reid standing there looking dumb struck. He shut off the burner and set the eggs aside.

"What are you doing up?" he asked genuinely concerned, Reid just stared at him confused. Foyet ran a hand through Spencer's hair as he looked him over, Reid was still not registering what was going on his mouth was open and things that sounded like words were stuttering out of him, but it made no sense. George smiled at him, his hair had begun to grow back and it lightly covered his head with dark fuzz. Reid's eyes began to well up and George hushed him.

"It's ok." He assured taking Reid's hand as he looked like he was about to fall down.

"You're ok now." A tear found its way down Spencer's face and George kissed his cheek, Reid suddenly hugged close to him and began sobbing. George groaned at the initial contact but held Reid just the same. They stood there for a minute before Reid somewhat composed himself he looked up into George's face who just smiled warmly at him.

"How… where…" George grinned at Reid's obvious confusion

"Last night was not a good night for you." Reid shook his head

"Had a run in with some trouble makers?" Reid looked at Foyet clearly confused until it dawned on him

"You…?" Foyet nodded

"You picked me up?" he nodded again, Reid looked around the room. It was morning and the sun was shining brightly outside reflecting off the snow making it seem even brighter out.

"Where are we?"

"Beulaville." George stated matter-of-factly. Reid had no idea where that was and he searched his head to figure out why he didn't know that. Foyet slowly released Reid and walked over to the kitchen again.

"You slept through the whole night so the drive was pretty boring." He said putting a piece of toast on a plate and placing an egg on top of it. He set it down at the small table before getting his own plate fixed. Reid looked out the window; there were a lot of fields and trees here. Slowly he walked over to the table and sat down; he got up again slightly at a shooting pain before slowly settling back down. George noticed it but said nothing as he sat across from him and folded the toast in half over the egg and took a bite. Reid just stared at the plate still visibly confused by everything.

"You should eat something." George remarked,

"Did they feed you in there at all?" Reid looked up a moment before staring back at the plate. His jaw hurt.

"Pills mostly." He mumbled tearing a corner off the toast and popping it in his mouth, his teeth hurt to clench them together so he rolled the bread around with his tongue until he could swallow it.

"Eat the egg instead." Foyet said handing him a fork he snatched from the counter. Reid looked at it and back down at the plate moving his jaw from side to side. He had an intense look on his face. George took another bite of his toast before setting it down on the plate and wiping his hands back and forth to free them from crumbs.

"Spencer." Reid looked up at Foyet who sat with one hand on the table and the other on his lap.

"I know you're not ok… I don't expect you to be." Reid was thankful to hear those words, for once it was the truth he was hearing. He shifted his weight in the chair and it creaked softly as he looked back down at the plate.

"What are we doing?" Reid asked, Foyet looked up at the ceiling

"I guess we're on the lam." Reid looked up at him with a contemplative yet surprised expression, Foyet grinned as he stretched his arms behind his back.

"Don't look at me like that, you were a fugitive when I found you in the street last night." He was right, Reid hated to admit it but it was true. Though the concept didn't sit well with him he had to deal with it now whether he wanted to or not. George rocked the chair backwards on its legs before letting it fall forward on all four, it made a large clonking noise as the legs hit the floor it startled Reid who looked perturbed why the action.

"Is that so bad?" Foyet asked, Reid sighed looking back down at the plate shrugging his shoulders. George stood and outstretched his hands to Reid from across the table; Spencer looked up at Foyet visibly unsure of things. George leaned down and took Reid's hands and pulled him up to stand. He looked into the caramel colored eyes as Reid put a hand on his chest. Foyet placed his hand gently on Reid's face his jaw was swollen and he had a dark bruise under one eye, but otherwise he was ok. Slowly he moved closer and placed a soft kiss on Reid's split lip, then another… and another. Reid leaned in finally and kissed George back, it felt wonderful being wrapped in his arms, strangely the safest place he'd felt in some time. Which was interesting since he and Foyet both knew that truth, that no one proved he was the Reaper seemed nothing but ridiculous to the both of them, Hotch had figured it and couldn't even prove it.

Reid pulled back as George moved his hand down his side, it wasn't because of pain… it was fear. George knew the difference instantly, Reid went to turn away from him but Foyet held him where he stood holding him close. Reid pulled in his bottom lip as he rested his head on Foyet's shoulder.

"I'm sorry-"he started but Foyet hushed him again

"Don't be." He said softly patting Reid's hair down against the back of his neck, Reid closed his eyes as George held him, everything was so fresh and raw inside him and he fought hard to quell the fear that took hold of him. Winter's was gone, yes. But he had taken a part of Reid with him… in a way he was right… in the end he had broken him and that realisation hurt more than anything else.


	9. We have Time

A few days passed and everything was quiet, Foyet had rented a small pre-furnished home upon getting into town early the morning they had arrived, there was one hotel but it had been closed for renovations, a woman who worked at the small grocery store referred him to an elderly woman who had just moved to the senior centre and was looking to rent out their little house. The grocer made a call and Foyet drove to meet the older woman who was out feeding birds in the park, she seemed to like him and gave him the keys the same day, Reid had been asleep in the back of the car the entire time.

Beulaville was a small town outside of Duplin, which Reid learned was in North Carolina. The community was close and people seemed to genuinely want to help each other out which Reid learned quickly from Foyet who would come back to the house with groceries or supplies and tell him all about the random people who stopped to talk to him on the street and in the lines at stores. It was a new experience for both of them, Foyet especially since he had to interact with so many people the first few days. He'd given the older woman a fake name, David Forbes. He'd also already made up a cover story that Reid came from a troubled background and Foyet had been trying to help him start over. This was how he explained Reid being laid up in the house for a few days.

He was healing well, the swelling in his jaw had gone away and a few days of restful sleep and warm meals did him good. George had taken it upon himself to sleep in the chair in the small sitting room outside the main bedroom. He wasn't exactly comfortable but he wanted to give Reid his space, they hadn't said much about what had transpired in Virginia or Boston which may have been for the better. Reid hadn't shared anything about what had happened in the health centre and George felt it best to keep certain confessions about his day of release to himself.

That evening Reid sat in one of the sitting room chairs, elbow on the arm rest and chin resting on his hand. Foyet had gone out to change the license plate on the car; Reid watched him from the window as he unscrewed the old one and began placing the new one on the back of the car. It wasn't the same car he had in Boston which made Reid wonder where that one had gone, this car was an eighties style Lincoln. At least it made them blend in with the people in town; there were a lot of people who worked in Duplin and plenty of agricultural jobs in the area, mostly families and a lot of older people. Everyone seemed really friendly; they'd already been given more than one plate of baked goods to welcome them to the community. George wasn't at all used to being hospitable with people so he had to work hard to get over that in order to keep things from getting complicated. It seemed to tire him out having to put on a face each morning but he never complained.

Reid watched as George stood up and carried the old license plate in with him, he kicked off his shoes at the door and threw the old plate in the corner by the front door before sitting down in a chair across from Spencer, who was looking outside again. It was early evening and the sky was a deep ocean blue as night crept upon them.

"What's up?" Foyet asked crossing one leg over his knee as he watched Reid from across the room.

Spencer shook his head slowly, but said nothing. Foyet sighed heaving himself out of the chair and walking across the room. He put the back of his hand on Reid's forehead and ruffled his hair slightly before setting his hand on the young man's shoulder.

"What's on your mind?" Foyet asked putting both hands on Reid's shoulders as he stood behind the chair. Spencer closed his eyes for a moment as George began to rub his shoulders, he was incredibly tense. His mind hadn't been able to shut off all the things that had happened in such a short time. The Jenkin's case, Finding out about George, then Hotch shooting him, his anxiety attacks, Winter's, Victoria…

George stroked the side of Reid's face as he felt him shaking under his touch, it wasn't until Reid grabbed his hand and squeezed it that Foyet noticed Spencer was crying. He came around to the front of the chair and knelt in front of him, Reid was still holding his hand tightly, his chin quivered and big tears streamed down his cheeks. He was trying so hard not to cry, the sight nearly broke George's heart.

"Talk to me." He said looking into Reid's face, Spencer turned his eyes away in shame making Foyet bite the end of his tongue, he kept moving to catch Reid's eye but Spencer wouldn't look at him.

"Spencer please." Foyet begged taking hold of Reid's other hand

"Talk to me." Reid swallowed hard trying to compose himself, he choked on his breath as he opened his mouth and Foyet had had enough. He pulled Reid to his feet and took him to the bathroom sitting him down on the closed toilet before grabbing a wash cloth and wetting it with cold water. He held it to Spencer's face a moment

"Breathe." He said sternly, patting the cloth on Spencer's face who inhaled sharply

"No deep breath." Foyet said removing the cloth, he breathed in showing Reid and breathed out again. It made Reid feel stupid but Foyet looked at him hard

"Come on." He said breathing in; Reid copied him slowly and exhaled with him. George's face softened as he patted the cloth against Reid's face again wiping the tears from his stinging eyes before sitting down in front of him.

"Now tell me what's wrong, you can't keep doing this to yourself." Reid continued to take deep breaths as he contemplated his words

"Don't think." Foyet said putting both hands on Reid's face making the younger man look at him

"Just tell me." Reid nodded trying not to start crying again, Foyet waited for him to speak.

"I've left everything behind and… Winter's is dead and… I dunno I wanted to kill him for the things he did to me…" Foyet didn't take his eyes off Reid as he continued

"Victoria stabbed him and… she helped me escape, and I don't know what happened to her, I left my job, my home, my team… my mom doesn't know anything about this… and you…" Reid's hands were trembling as he spoke

"You're a serial killer… Hotch knew that and now what? What are we doing? I don't know." Reid rested his forehead on Foyet's as tears found their way down his face once more.

"There's just so much." He said, his tears making tiny dark circles as they landed in his lap. George stroked the side of Reid's face with his thumb as they sit there in silence. Reid felt better finally being able to get everything out even if it didn't make coherent sense to George.

"Feel any better?" George asked after a few minutes, Reid nodded

"A little…" he said wiping his eyes on the back of his hand; George smiled and kissed his cheek before standing up.

"Why don't you get some sleep." He suggested extending a hand to Reid who took it after a moment

"We can talk more tomorrow if you want ok?" Reid nodded as he walked ahead of George into the bedroom and sat on the edge of the bed, Foyet watched him from the doorway. His heart was heavy and his mind running on overdrive as he watched Reid sniffling in front of him.

"Will you stay with me?" George was surprised to hear those words

"Of course." He said walking into the room, Reid exhaled a shaky breath. Foyet closed the curtains and pulled off his socks turning on the lamp at the side of the bed, before turning back to Spencer. Who was staring up at him with a longing expression, Foyet studied his face. He still had a bruise under his eye, both his eyes were red and swollen; his lips were full and parted as he gazed up at him. George followed Reid's hand that trembled as he raised it up and placed it on the older man's stomach, Reid's eyes fluttered as George moved a stray hair from his eyes with one finger. He slowly ran his hand flat against George's stomach up his body and back down again, he pushed his tongue out between his lips and back in again wetting them as he watched his hand move.

He was so frightened and it hurt George to see it, it was if he were asking permission with each gentle brush of his hand, each look he sent as he turned his eyes towards George, moving so slowly tiny breaths escaping his lips as his hand trembled along his lover's chest. Foyet stroked the side of Reid's face, his hands were warm and soft against his skin, his fingertips were cool as they brushed against his ear, Reid turned his face to kiss the palm of George's hand. Foyet moved his hand down Reid's neck gently moving it inside the collar of his shirt. Reid bit his bottom lip as George knelt between his knees, and began pinching the buttons of his shirt open. He shivered as George placed his hands on his chest and slowly slid the dress shirt off of the younger man's shoulders.

Reid hooked his fingers into the front of George's sweater who pulled on his sleeve and extracted his arms from the garment before lifting it over his head and setting it on the floor. Reid started to breathe in shallow breaths visibly worried; Foyet shushed him ever so softly as he placed a hand on his young lovers face drawing him closer as he kissed his bottom lip. Reid's mouth quivered as Foyet planted soft kisses against it; he closed his eyes as George's hand trailed up the side of his neck and tangled in his hair. George's auburn eyes gazed at him lovingly as he patiently waited for him; Reid brought a shaky hand up towards Foyet's mouth and touched his lips with his fingertips. George kissed them gently as Reid's eyes flew over his face, they welled with tears and he pulled in his lip slightly.

"Shh…" Foyet uttered softly against his young lovers quivering lips. He was caught off guard as Reid pressed into him, Foyet closed his eyes as Reid kissed him deeply placing one hand on the back of the older man's neck and the other on his chest, Foyet kissed him back with fevered passion swallowing his young lovers disheartened cries as Reid pulled him closer. They parted only a moment as Reid moved back on the bed and George crawled on top of him, shadowing his hand over Spencer's chest. Reid felt the hairs on his arms stand up and he gasped at the delicate touch, George gingerly ran the ends of his fingers up Spencer's side as he kissed his neck, Reid's eyes rolled back and he raised his head slightly as George nibbled at his throat.

"You ok?" George whispered against his ear, Reid nodded against him holding the back of Foyet's head as he trailed his tongue down his body. He felt his face get hot as George moved further down his chest and plant kisses around his navel, he drew in a sharp breath as Foyet moved his hand down his side and rested it on his thigh. Reid bit his bottom lip as he looked up at the ceiling breathing through his nose as Foyet slowly undid the button on his pants and drew down the zipper.

"You're sure?" George asked, Reid closed his eyes and nodded again as Foyet continued slowly, hooking his fingers into the sides of the pants and pulling them down gently. He extracted Reid's legs one by one before looking back down at his frightened lover. He was stiff with tension; it was sad and cute at the same time. George smiled and hummed as he stood up and took off his own pants. Reid hadn't opened his eyes yet as he seemed to be waiting for something.

He was surprised as George took hold of his hands and pulled him up to sit; he opened his eyes gradually and was greeted by Foyet's smiling face. George took Reid's hand and pressed his against it so their palms touched; he curled his fingers around to Spencer's wrist placing the young man's hand on his chest. Reid looked from his hand to George's eyes and could feel Foyet's heart hammering in his chest. He looked up at him in awe, never thinking for a moment he might also be just as scared. George's torso was so scarred now, his side was healed nicely and the stitches of his gunshot wound were flush against the red flesh of his shoulder.

"Come on." George said moving forward to lay Reid back against the pillow; he pulled the blanket up from underneath them and wrapped it around them as he held Spencer. Reid held the older man's hand against his chest as they lay there. George kissed him behind the ear as he leaned over and shut off the light.

"We have time." He said against the back of Reid's neck. The white light of the moon shone through the curtains giving the room a kind of glow, Reid ran his thumb over the back of George's hand as he relaxed against the pillow. He listened to the sound of the wind blowing outside and sighed deeply as George nuzzled the back of his neck with his nose. In all the chaos that was running rampant inside him the moment couldn't be more perfect, and Reid never knew he could feel so many things at once. George's thumb moved along the back of his hand gently as Spencer finally closed his eyes, maybe being a fugitive wasn't so bad after all.


End file.
